A recent study reported in New Scientist looked at how the placebo effect can transfer to other pains.
In this study the researchers were using brain scans and they found that the systems in the brain that process the emotional aspect of pain was the part that was activated.
What the researchers did was to deliver moderately painful heat to nearly 400 people’s fingers using an electrode. They repeated it a number of times so that the volunteers became familiar with it.
They then applied 2 creams to different fingers on each person’s left hand. They told the people that one was effective in relieving pain and the other had no effect. Both creams were actually the same and neither had any pain-relieving properties.
The volunteers also watched a video that talked about how effective one cream was and its potential side effects.
Next, the researchers applied the heat again plus they also added a painful pressure while they were doing MRI scans of the volunteers’ brains. Those who had the pain-relieving cream reported less pain from the heat than those who got the other cream.
The people who had the pain-relieving cream also reported less pain from the pressure.
The bottom line in this study was that the placebo effect can transfer to new situations. They also found that the part of the brain affected was where the brain regulated emotions.
The study unveiled a fascinating phenomenon: the transferability of the placebo effect to alleviate diverse pains.
So…stay tuned for more revelations in the realm of placebo efficacy.
(Reported New Scientist, October 9, 2023)
No comments:
Post a Comment