INS 2020 DENVER
The International Neuropsychological Society, 48th Annual Meeting, Denver, Colorado USA – February 5–8, 2020
Placebo Effects Mechanisms, Impact, and Ethical Use Workshop by Professor Tor Wager
Abstract & Learning Objectives: Placebo effects are improvements in signs and symptoms caused by the context in which a treatment is delivered. They are a natural part of the way our brains work; their mechanisms include learning and neuroplasticity, emotion, social cognition, and expectations, and other future-oriented cognition. An underappreciated consequence of placebo effects is their capacity to induce ‘self-fulfilling prophecies’— positive feedback loops between expectations and experience that can cause resistance to new information and persistent effects of prior beliefs, for good or ill. In this workshop, I explore several key issues surrounding placebo analgesia. These include: 1. What kinds of clinical and physiological outcomes can be affected by placebo treatments? How do we separate the causal effects of placebo from spontaneous improvement? 2. What are the psychological and brain processes that give rise to placebo effects? These include learning (and associated neuroplasticity), expectations, and inferences about the social and environmental context. In particular, I explore the role of conceptual thought. 3. What factors are likely to create larger placebo effects, both in terms of external manipulations of context and individual differences? 4. How can, and should, placebo effects be harnessed in clinical practice and self-care? Should companies try to capitalize on them when developing and marketing products?
Upon conclusion of this course, learners will be able to:
- Describe the clinical and physiologic outcomes affected by placebo treatments and how to separate causal effects from spontaneous improvements
- List the psychological and brain processes that give rise to placebo effects
- Critique whether or not placebo effects should be harnessed in clinical practice and self-care