Handbook of experimental pharmacology
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Placebo analgesia has become a well-studied phenomenon that encompasses psychology, physiology and pharmacology. In this chapter we explore the complex interactions between these disciplines in order to argue that the placebo response is more than a simple change in perception but is a cognitive style driven by prior expectations. ⋯ This altered sensation can be attributed to personality traits, altered error monitoring processes, changes in anticipatory responses to pain and activation of the endogenous opioid system. In conclusion we discuss how altered sensory processing by descending pain modulation may play a part in placebo analgesia and how the loss of the brains prefrontal regions can make it impossible to have a placebo response.
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Recent substantial laboratory and theoretical research hints for different learning mechanisms regulating the formation of placebo and nocebo responses. Moreover, psychological and biological variants may play a role as modulators of learning mechanisms underlying placebo and nocebo responses. In this chapter, we present pioneering and recent human and nonhuman research that has impressively increased our knowledge of learning mechanisms in the context of placebo and nocebo effects across different physiological processes and pathological conditions.