Manipulation of Attention and Expectancy Within an Open-Label Placebo Treatment for Experimental Pain

Presentation Year

2026

College or Department

College of Professional Studies

Short Description of your Research or Creative Project (700 characters or less)

Open-label, or honestly prescribed placebos, offer an ethical alternative to deceptive placebos. Results reported here are a part of a larger study where expectancy and attention were experimentally manipulated within a 2 (expectancy: high/low) x 2 (attention: high/low) between-subjects design with a no-treatment comparison group. Pain was experimentally induced in all five experimental groups using the well-established cold pressor task. Participants self-reported expectancy and researchers utilized a behavioral measure of attention to assess the effectiveness of these manipulations. Overall, expectancy scores were sensitive to manipulations, but the attention manipulation failed. Future research should explore new methods of both measuring and manipulating attention.

Permission to Publish Work

Yes

Presentation File Upload

psychology-nevis-arianna-202577-3x4.pdf (333.75 KB)

Primary Contact: First Name

Arianna

Primary Contact: Last Name

Nevis

Primary Contact: Email

ann36@humboldt.edu

Primary Contact: I am a

Undergraduate Student

Primary Contact: Phone Number

9168823205

Indicate File Dimensions

4'x3'