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Cited by 84Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on BehaviorNeural and Behavioral Psychology StudiesPain Management and Placebo Effect

Mind matters: placebo enhances reward learning in Parkinson's disease

Open access
Schmidt, Liane, Braun, Erin Kendall, Wager, Tor D, Shohamy, Daphna·2014·Nature Neuroscience
DOI 10.1038/nn.3842PMC PMC4503317
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Abstract

Expectations have a powerful influence on how we experience the world. Neurobiological and computational models of learning suggest that dopamine is crucial for shaping expectations of reward and that expectations alone may influence dopamine levels. However, because expectations and reinforcers are typically manipulated together, the role of expectations per se has remained unclear. We separated these two factors using a placebo dopaminergic manipulation in individuals with Parkinson's disease. We combined a reward learning task with functional magnetic resonance imaging to test how expectations of dopamine release modulate learning-related activity in the brain. We found that the mere expectation of dopamine release enhanced reward learning and modulated learning-related signals in the striatum and the ventromedial prefrontal cortex. These effects were selective to learning from reward: neither medication nor placebo had an effect on learning to avoid monetary loss. These findings suggest a neurobiological mechanism by which expectations shape learning and affect.

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  • Expectations could influence the impact of prediction errors by modulating learning rates, boosting learning for adjustments aligned with expected outcomes and reducing learning when outcomes deviate from expectations.

    “Second, expectations could influence the impact of prediction errors by modulating learning rates, boosting learning for adjustments aligned with expected outcomes and reducing learning when the outcomes deviate from expectations (12, 48).”

    From Social information creates self-fulfilling prophecies in judgments of pain, vicarious pain, and cognitive effort (2026) · cites this paper as [48]

    The Discussion (page unavailable) says expectations of drug effects mimicked medication effects on learning rates, supporting the general point that expectations can influence learning. But the Results and Online Methods report a lower learning rate under placebo for gain trials and no learning-rate difference for loss trials. They do not establish higher rates for adjustments aligned with expected outcomes and lower rates for deviations from them. (LLM, conf=0.84)

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Research works printed but not linked: 10

  1. [14]Daw ND Decision making, affect, learning: attention and performance xxiii 1 Delgado MR Phelps EA Robbins TW Oxford University Press 2011
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  4. [52]Benedetti F Placebo–responsive Parkinson patients show decreased activity in single neurons of subthalamic nucleus Nat Neurosci 7 587 588 2004 15146189
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Authors
Schmidt, L., Braun, E. K., Wager, T. D., & Shohamy, D.
Affiliations
  • Columbia University (US)
  • University of Colorado Boulder (US)
Corresponding author
Wager, Tor D
ORCID
Venue
Nature Neuroscience
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published
2014-10-19
Volume
17
Issue
12
Pages
1793-1797
ISSN
  • 1097-6256 (ISSN-L)
  • 1546-1726
DOI
10.1038/nn.3842
PMC
PMC4503317
OpenAlex
W2054358775
Cited by
84
References
57
Citations by year
2026: 5 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 7 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 9 · 2017: 10 · 2016: 7 · 2015: 11 · 2014: 1
FWCI
4.42
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
Locations
  • Nature Neuroscience (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
Funders
National Institute of Mental Health (R01MH076136)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Pain Management and Placebo Effect
Keywords
placebo effect, reward learning, Parkinson's disease, dopamine, expectations, ventromedial prefrontal cortex, ventral striatum, prediction error, expected value
MeSH terms
Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Antiparkinson Agents, Female, Humans, Learning, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Middle Aged, Parkinson Disease, Photic Stimulation, Reward, Thinking, Prefrontal Cortex

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