The neural mechanisms whereby placebo conditioning leads to placebo analgesia remain
unclear. In this study we aimed to identify the brain structures activated during placebo
conditioning and subsequent placebo analgesia. We induced placebo analgesia by
associating a sham treatment with pain reduction and used fMRI to measure brain activity
associated with three stages of the placebo response: before, during and after the sham
treatment, while participants anticipated and experienced brief laser pain. In the control …