Tor Wager, the Diana L. Taylor Distinguished Professor in Neuroscience, helps lead Dartmouth’s Breaking the Neural Code academic cluster, which includes research on how placebos affect patients who are feeling pain. “We study how the brain creates mental models, belief structures, that then guide how we experience the world, and in particular how we experience pain,” Wager says.

Science writer, Kathryn Hulick covers Dr. Wager’s research in her article,  “Discovering the power of placebos” in Science News for Students.

How deeply the placebo effect extends into the brain’s pain system?

According to Dr. Tor Wager, placebos can deaden pain signals coming from the nerves. For some people, it’s as if the brain is “turning off the tap”. Most of the action seems to happen within the brain systems that manage motivation and reward. These are the systems that manage your belief about your pain.