Direct evidence for spinal cord involvement in placebo analgesia
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Functional magnetic resonance imaging of the human spinal cord reveals a mechanism for placebo analgesia.
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Expectations could modulate reinforcement signals, and if such manipulations affect the reinforcement signal used in calculating prediction errors, it would short-circuit learning by suppressing cue-inconsistent prediction errors.
“If these manipulations affect the reinforcement signal used in calculating prediction errors, it would short-circuit learning by suppressing cue-inconsistent prediction errors.”
From Social information creates self-fulfilling prophecies in judgments of pain, vicarious pain, and cognitive effort (2026) · cites this paper as [45]
The results passage (section labeled “Christian Büchel 1”; page unavailable) reports that placebo reduced pain-related activity in the spinal cord, supporting the premise that expectations can alter nociceptive processing. The paper does not establish that this activity is the reinforcement signal used to calculate prediction errors, or that its suppression short-circuits learning. (LLM, conf=0.78)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredSome forms of cognitive regulation, e.g., distraction and placebo manipulations, may regulate pain at very early stages of processing in the spinal cord in some cases.
“some forms of cognitive regulation, e.g., distraction and placebo manipulations, may regulate pain at very early stages of processing in the spinal cord in some cases [30],[31].”
From Distinct Brain Systems Mediate the Effects of Nociceptive Input and Self-Regulation on Pain (2015) · cites this paper as [30]
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“For example, studies of placebo and nocebo effects suggest that manipulations of contextual information can drive changes in the construction of pain and other symptoms (38–44), including responses to noxious stimuli in the spinal cord (45–47).”
- Authors
- Eippert, F., Finsterbusch, J., Bingel, U., & Büchel, C.
- Affiliations
- University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (DE)
- Venue
- Science
- Published
- 2009-10-16
- Volume
- 326
- Issue
- 5951
- Pages
- 404-404
- ISSN
- 0036-8075 (ISSN-L)
- 1095-9203
- OpenAlex
- W1967999836
- Cited by
- 512
- References
- 6
- Citations by year
- 2026: 16 · 2025: 30 · 2024: 37 · 2023: 29 · 2022: 17 · 2021: 28 · 2020: 30 · 2019: 21 · 2018: 34 · 2017: 28 · 2016: 29 · 2015: 36 · 2014: 49 · 2013: 38 · 2012: 30
- FWCI
- 14.52
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- hdl.handle.net
- Locations
- Science (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- MPG.PuRe (Max Planck Society) (submittedVersion)
- Universitätsbibliographie, Universität Duisburg-Essen (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Pain Management and Placebo Effect
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Pain Mechanisms and Treatments
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine › Pain Management and Treatment
- Keywords
- placebo analgesia, spinal cord, nociceptive processing, spinal inhibition, pain perception, psychological factors in pain, central pain processing
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Analgesia, Analgesics, Humans, Lidocaine, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Pain, Pain Measurement, Placebos, Spinal Cord, Placebo Effect, Pain Threshold, Posterior Horn Cells, Young Adult
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