The DOI matches its Crossref record; 24 of the 25 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Response expectancies in placebo analgesia and their clinical relevance
Abstract
Response expectancies have been proposed as the major determinant of placebo effects. Here we report that different expectations produce different analgesic effects which in turn can be harnessed in clinical practice. Thoracotomized patients were treated with buprenorphine on request for 3 consecutive days, together with a basal intravenous infusion of saline solution. However, the symbolic meaning of this basal infusion was changed in three different groups of patients. The first group was told nothing about any analgesic effect (natural history). The second group was told that the basal infusion was either a powerful painkiller or a placebo (classic double-blind administration). The third group was told that the basal infusion was a potent painkiller (deceptive administration). Therefore, whereas the analgesic treatment was exactly the same in the three groups, the verbal instructions about the basal infusion differed. The placebo effect of the saline basal infusion was measured by recording the doses of buprenorphine requested over the three-days treatment. We found that the double-blind group showed a reduction of buprenorphine requests compared to the natural history group. However, this reduction was even larger in the deceptive administration group. Overall, after 3 days of placebo infusion, the first group received 11.55 mg of buprenorphine, the second group 9.15 mg, and the third group 7.65 mg. Despite these dose differences, analgesia was the same in the three groups. These results indicate that different verbal instructions about certain and uncertain expectations of analgesia produce different placebo analgesic effects, which in turn trigger a dramatic change of behaviour leading to a significant reduction of opioid intake.
Overview
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
In the citing paper
“In a clinical setting, it has been demonstrated that either or both placebo (positive expectancy of pain relief) and nocebo effects (negative expectancy of increased pain) influence the effectiveness of medical treatment (Kam-Hansen et al., 2014; Pollo et al., 2001).”
From Distinct neural representations of placebo and nocebo effects (2015) · cites this paper as Pollo et al., 2001
Citations
Cites
Pavlovian conditioning: it's not what you think it is
Rescorla, R. A. (1988) · American Psychologist · doi:10.1037/0003-066x.43.3.151 · Cited by 1,542
Response expectancy as a determinant of experience and behavior.
Kirsch, I. (1985) · American Psychologist · doi:10.1037/0003-066x.40.11.1189 · Cited by 1,014
Amanzio, M., & Benedetti, F. (1999) · The Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.19-01-00484.1999 · Cited by 899
Self-citationPrice, D. D., Milling, L. S., Kirsch, I., Duff, A., Montgomery, G. H., & Nicholls, S. S. (1999) · Pain · doi:10.1016/s0304-3959(99)00081-0 · Cited by 569
Classical conditioning and the placebo effect
Montgomery, G. H., & Kirsch, I. (1997) · Pain · doi:10.1016/s0304-3959(97)00016-x · Cited by 468
The role of conditioning and verbal expectancy in the placebo response
Voudouris, N. J., Peck, C. L., & Coleman, G. (1990) · Pain · doi:10.1016/0304-3959(90)90057-k · Cited by 369
Somatotopic Activation of Opioid Systems by Target-Directed Expectations of Analgesia
Benedetti, F., Arduino, C., & Amanzio, M. (1999) · The Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.19-09-03639.1999 · Cited by 350
Self-citationChanging expectations: a key to effective psychotherapy
(1990) · Choice Reviews Online · doi:10.5860/choice.28-2424 · Cited by 342
CLINICIANS' EXPECTATIONS INFLUENCE PLACEBO ANALGESIA
Gracely, R. H., Dubner, R. A., Deeter, W. R., & Wolskee, P. J. (1985) · The Lancet · doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(85)90984-5 · Cited by 311
The Placebo Effect: An Interdisciplinary Exploration
Harrington, A. (1999) · DigitalGeorgetown (Georgetown University Library) · Cited by 303
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Items 401–441 of 441
Complementary and alternative medicine
Sharav, Y., & Benoliel, R. (2008) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-0-7234-3412-2.10017-3
Investigating placebo mechanisms: could a PDP system exist?
Payne, F. (2024) · PEARL (University of Plymouth) · doi:10.24382/ssj1-hr68
Placeboeffekte und ihre Implikationen in der Medizin
Bingel, U. (2020) · Schmerzmedizin · doi:10.1007/s00940-020-0593-8
Jones, L. E., Moseley, G. L., & Carus, C. (2013) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-0-7020-4344-4.00017-1 · Cited by 1
Effects of changes in response expectancy on pain perception and electrophysiology
Almarzouki, A. F. (2015) · Research Explorer (The University of Manchester)
Harnessing Placebo Responses to Improve Health Outcomes
McCarter, G. C. (2020) · American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education · doi:10.5688/ajpe8184
Tinnermann, A., Sprenger, C., & Büchel, C. (2021) · bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) · doi:10.1101/2021.05.11.443635
Receptor expectations and interlingual translation reception
Deckert, M. (2021) · XLinguae · doi:10.18355/xl.2021.14.02.01
Uematsu, T., Serizawa, K., Suzuki, H., Matsuura, T., Horii, K., & Koike, M. (2020) · Iryo Yakugaku (Japanese Journal of Pharmaceutical Health Care and Sciences) · doi:10.5649/jjphcs.46.531
Tinnermann, A., Sprenger, C., & Büchel, C. (2022) · DRYAD · doi:10.5061/dryad.bvq83bk9k
Moseley, G. L., & Jones, L. E. (2009) · CRC Press eBooks · doi:10.1201/9780849382697.ch3
Howick, J. (2011) · Wiley eBooks · doi:10.1002/9781444342673.refs
Deception in research on the placebo effect
Wendler, D. S., & Swartzman, L. C. (2012) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/acprof:osobl/9780199896202.003.0011
Moore, R. J., & Spiegel, D. (2006) · Kluwer Academic Publishers eBooks · doi:10.1007/0-306-48007-7_1
Idé, C., Gebhart, G. F., Tracey, I., McGrath, P. A., Williams, T., Hadjistavropoulos, T., Greenspan, J. D., Samii, A., Osumi, N., Kerzel, D., et al. (2008) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-540-29678-2_16
Fields, H. L. (2008) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-540-29678-2_4607
Benedetti, F. (2020) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780198843177.003.0010
Self-citationBenedetti, F. (2020) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780198843177.003.0005
Self-citationWelie, J. V. M. (2012) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-373932-2.00161-7
(2010) · Érès eBooks · doi:10.3917/eres.rouss.2010.01.0135
Colloca, L., Jobes, C., Liang, T., & Simmons, K. (2013) · doi:10.4155/ebo.13.408
Placebos and Treatment of Pain
Benedetti, F. (2004) · Pain Medicine · doi:10.1111/j.1526-4637.2004.4046_3.x
Self-citationPlaceboeffekte in der Schmerzmedizin
Klinger, R., & Bingel, U. (2017) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-642-54670-9_3-2
Placeboeffekte in der Schmerzmedizin
Klinger, R., & Bingel, U. (2014) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-642-54670-9_3-1
Sabino‐Carvalho, J. L., Ferreira, T. H. N., Lopes, T. R., & Silva, B. M. (2017) · Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise · doi:10.1249/mss.0000000000001269
Clinical–ethical implications and applications
Benedetti, F. (2020) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780198843177.003.0017
Self-citationAntonis, T. (2022) · Applied Medical Research · doi:10.47363/amr/2022(9)221
La composante placebo des traitements de la douleur, vers une optimisation de l’efficacité
Bussod, L., Nerich, V., Girard, C., & Pudlo, M. (2023) · Actualités Pharmaceutiques · doi:10.1016/j.actpha.2023.01.012
The rise of digital health and digital medicine
Brown, E., Persky, S., Franklin, P. D., Seneviratne, C., Noel, J. M., & Colloca, L. (2023) · doi:10.1093/med/9780197645444.003.0025
Placebo effect in clinical practice
Bentin, J. M., Arendt‐Nielsen, L., & Bihlet, A. R. (2024) · Ugeskrift for Læger · doi:10.61409/v02240121 · Cited by 1
The transfer of conditioned and extinguished placebo hypoalgesia across contexts
Ng, D., Livesey, E. J., & Colagiuri, B. (2025) · Journal of Pain · doi:10.1016/j.jpain.2025.105583 · Cited by 1
Le vécu du patient en anesthésie
Maurice-Szamburski, A. (2016) · doi:10.70675/845ade8fz2eb3z4ea4zb68cz11fad9fe2fec
Mogianos, K., & Persson, A. K. M. (2026) · Journal of Personalized Medicine · doi:10.3390/jpm16040191
Vices ou vertus de la médecine : l'effet placebo, entre tensions scientifiques et éthiques
Sabel, M. (2023) · theses.fr (ABES) · doi:10.70675/f0d4643ez379dz49edza6cdz6317e8276726
Noor, N., & Koushik, S. S. (2025) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-0-443-10583-8.00008-8
Mogianos, K., & Persson, A. K. M. (2026) · British Journal of Anaesthesia · doi:10.1016/j.bja.2026.04.039
Behandlungserwartungen im perioperativen Setting
Klinger, R., Winkler, E., Ocokoljic, A., & Stuhlreyer, J. (2026) · AINS - Anästhesiologie · Intensivmedizin · Notfallmedizin · Schmerztherapie · doi:10.1055/a-2754-3626
Okegawa, T., Kusafuka, A., Yamasaki, D., Kaneko, N., & Nakazawa, K. (2026) · Human Movement Science · doi:10.1016/j.humov.2026.103525
Placebo et douleurs chroniques
Bruxelle, J. (2013) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-2-8178-0439-2_3
Metadata
- Authors
- Pollo, A., Amanzio, M., Arslanian, A., Casadio, C., Maggi, G., & Benedetti, F.
- Affiliations
- University of Turin (IT)
- Corresponding author
- Benedetti, Fabrizio
- Venue
- Pain
- Published
- 2001-07
- Volume
- 93
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 77-84
- ISSN
- 0304-3959 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W1987206591
- Cited by
- 442
- References
- 25
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 11 · 2024: 12 · 2023: 16 · 2022: 11 · 2021: 8 · 2020: 29 · 2019: 16 · 2018: 24 · 2017: 27 · 2016: 17 · 2015: 23 · 2014: 25 · 2013: 20 · 2012: 20
- FWCI
- 6.64
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Pain (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Institutional Research Information System University of Turin (University of Turin) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Pain Management and Placebo Effect
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology (medical) › Pain Mechanisms and Treatments
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine › Pain Management and Opioid Use
- Keywords
- placebo analgesia, response expectancy, placebo effect, buprenorphine, thoracotomy, verbal instructions, deception
- MeSH terms
- Aged, Analgesics, Analgesics, Opioid, Buprenorphine, Double-Blind Method, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Postoperative Pain, Placebo Effect
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review