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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jan 11, 2026

How to Study Placebo Responses in Motion Sickness with a Rotation Chair Paradigm in Healthy Participants

How to Study Placebo Responses in Motion Sickness with a Rotation Chair Paradigm in Healthy Participants

Published on: December 14, 2014

Placebo Response and Placebo Effect: What Is the Difference?

Fabrizio Benedetti¹, Aziz Shaibani²

¹Department of Neuroscience, University of Turin Medical School, Corso Raffaello 30, Turin 1025, Italy; Innovative Clinical Trials, Training & Healthcare Initiative (ICTHI), Zermatt CH-3920, Switzerland.

Neurologic Clinics

|November 13, 2025

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Placebo response encompasses all reactions to a placebo, while the placebo effect isolates psychological factors. Understanding this distinction is crucial for interpreting clinical trial results and patient outcomes.

Keywords:

Clinical trials Conditioning Expectations Placebo effect Placebo response Regression to the mean Spontaneous remission

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Area of Science:

Pharmacology
Clinical Research
Psychology

Background:

The placebo response is a broad term for any reaction to an inert substance.
The placebo effect specifically refers to psychological influences on outcomes.
Nocebo effects are adverse events triggered by placebo administration.

Purpose of the Study:

To differentiate between placebo response and placebo effect.
To clarify the components of placebo response, including psychological and non-psychological factors.
To define the nocebo response and nocebo effect.

Main Methods:

Conceptual analysis of existing literature.
Comparison of placebo response/effect with drug response/effect.
Definition of key terms and their distinctions.

Main Results:

Placebo response includes spontaneous remission, biases, and psychological factors.
Placebo effect is limited to psychological factors like expectation and learning.
Nocebo response/effect involves adverse events from placebos.

Conclusions:

Distinguishing placebo response from placebo effect is essential for accurate interpretation of clinical data.
The placebo effect is a subset of the placebo response.
Understanding these concepts improves the design and analysis of clinical trials.