Placebo in Emotional Processing— Induced Expectations of Anxiety Relief Activate a Generalized Modulatory Network

• Published in: Neuron (Cambridge, Mass.) Vol. 46; no. 6; pp. 957 - 969
• Main Authors: Petrovic, Predrag, Dietrich, Thomas, Fransson, Peter, Andersson, Jesper, Carlsson, Katrina, Ingvar, Martin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 16.06.2005; Elsevier Limited
• Subjects: Adult; Anti-Anxiety Agents - therapeutic use; Anxiety; Anxiety - drug therapy; Anxiety - physiopathology; Benzodiazepines - therapeutic use; Brain; Brain Mapping; Correlation analysis; Emotions - drug effects; Emotions - physiology; Female; Flumazenil - therapeutic use; Humans; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted - methods; Magnetic Resonance Imaging - methods; Nerve Net - blood supply; Nerve Net - drug effects; Nerve Net - physiology; Oxygen - blood; Pain; Photic Stimulation - methods; Placebo Effect; Placebos - pharmacology; Time Factors

Placebo analgesia and reward processing share several features. For instance, expectations have a strong influence on the subsequent emotional experience of both. Recent imaging data indicate similarities in the underlying neuronal network. We hypothesized that placebo analgesia is a special case of...