Neurocognition and placebo analgesia: Linking in functional magnetic resonance imaging

The placebo effect is not only a powerful means of testing new pharmacological treatments and the therapeutic ritual, but also a way of investigating the mind-body relationship. The study of the underlying mechanisms has created great expectation on the possibility of understanding the neurobiological equivalents of the clinical effects observed following the placebo treatment. Neuroimaging research is able to provide quantitative measures of the psychological and behavioral responses (neurocognitive factors) associated with placebo treatment. Most of the knowledge about the neurocognitive and neural underpinnings of the placebo effect derives from the field of pain and analgesia. The chapter focuses on considerations that are unique to neuroimaging studies of placebo analgesia and neurocognitive-associated factors in humans, including the role of the temporal continuum of pain and cognitive predictors (attention, expectation, and reappraisal) of placebo analgesia. The inherent findings, in terms of metacognitive-executive functions, are then presented and interpreted according to a neurocognitive approach.