The Placebo & Nocebo Effect Practice Flashcards

A set of vocabulary flashcards covering the foundations and neuroscience of the placebo and nocebo effects, including key brain structures and biological mechanisms.

Placebo

A treatment with no active medical ingredient that resembles a real treatment; the word comes from Latin meaning "I shall please."

Placebo Effect

Improvements in health or symptoms caused by positive expectations rather than active medication.

Placebo Group

In clinical trials, a group used to reduce bias and distinguish true drug effects from natural recovery or expectant effects.

Predictive Processing

A mechanism where perception results from the brain combining internal expectations with incoming sensory information.

Prior

The brain’s prediction or expectation about what will happen before new sensory information is received.

Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex (vmPFC)

The brain region that functions as a context builder and expectation generator, helping interpret the meaning of a treatment.

Insula

The brain region responsible for monitoring internal bodily sensations, such as pain and heartbeat.

Amygdala

The brain structure most involved in emotional learning and fear.

Hypothalamus

The structure that helps regulate automatic body functions including hormones, stress, and hunger.

Periaqueductal Gray (PAG)

A region especially important for activating the body’s natural pain-control system.

Descending Pain Modulation

The process where the brain sends signals down the spinal cord to reduce incoming pain signals before they reach conscious awareness.

Endorphins

Neurotransmitters that act as the body's natural painkillers.

Dopamine

A neurotransmitter associated with reward, motivation, learning, and movement; it may temporarily increase in Parkinson’s patients during placebo treatments.

Nocebo Effect

When negative expectations cause symptoms to worsen or create unpleasant ones even without a harmful treatment.

Prediction Machine

A term used by neuroscientists to describe the brain because it uses past experiences, memories, and learning to predict future events and interpret sensory information.