ArticleScientific reports2022
Changes in neural processing and evaluation of negative facial expressions after administration of an open-label placebo.
Article in Scientific reports, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 28 citations in OpenAlex.
- Effects of open-label placebos across populations and outcomes: an updated systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.Scientific reports · 2025Pooled it
- Social pain: A systematic review on interventions.F1000Research · 2025Pooled it
- Dispositional optimism and open-label placebo responses in hair cortisol concentrations and psychological distress-A randomized controlled trial.Applied psychology. Health and well-being · 2026Trial
- The role of expectations and tailored feedback on the open-label Placebo effect.Journal of health psychology · 2026Trial
- A simple alternative to nondeceptive placebos for reducing emotional distress: encouragement.Social cognitive and affective neuroscience · 2025Trial
- Effects of Heart Rate Variability Biofeedback Training on Anxiety Reduction and Brain Activity: a Randomized Active-Controlled Study Using EEG.Applied psychophysiology and biofeedback · 2024Trial
- Effects of an open-label placebo intervention on reactions to social exclusion in healthy adults: a randomized controlled trial.Scientific reports · 2023Trial
- A randomized trial that compared brain activity, efficacy and plausibility of open-label placebo treatment and cognitive repappraisal for reducing emotional distress.Scientific reports · 2023Trial
- Effects of prefrontal transcranial direct current stimulation on open-label placebo responses.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2026Article
- Effects of an open-label placebo on divergent thinking performance.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- The Programmed Placebo Effect in Patients with Syncope: Preliminary Clinical and Nanostructural Insights with a Hypothetical Quantum-Level Interpretation.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Article
- Placebo treatment entails resource-dependent downregulation of negative inputs.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Would You Take an Open-Label Placebo Pill or Give One to Your Child? Findings from a Cross-Sectional Survey.Psychology research and behavior management · 2024Article
- Non-Deceptive Placebos Can Promote Acts of Kindness: A Randomized Controlled Trial.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Placebo mechanisms in aging: A randomized controlled trial comparing deceptive and open-label placebos on psychological, cognitive, and physical functioning in older adults.International journal of clinical and health psychology : IJCHPArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
A recent event-related potential (ERP) study found that an open-label placebo (OLP) reduced emotional distress during the viewing of unpleasant scenes and the amplitude of the late positive potential (LPP). The present ERP experiment aimed at a conceptual replication of this finding and investigated OLP effects during affective face processing. The participants (109 females) were presented with images depicting angry and neutral facial expressions after the administration of a saline nasal spray. The spray was either introduced as a placebo that could help reduce the emotional reactions to viewing angry faces (OLP group) or to improve the electrophysiological recordings (Control group). The OLP was associated with reduced LPP amplitudes (1000-6000 ms) to anger expressions across a frontal cluster. Additionally, the OLP reduced LPP amplitudes (400-1000 ms) to both anger and neutral faces across a centroparietal cluster. Compared to the Control group, the OLP group reported less arousal when confronted with angry faces, and rated the anger expressions as less intense. This study demonstrates that an OLP can alter both subjective and neural responses to anger cues. Future research should directly compare OLP treatment with other strategies for emotion regulation (e.g., cognitive reappraisal) to demonstrate the specificity of this approach.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.