All in the mind: what the placebo effect looks like in the brain

The history of the concept of the placebo effect and research into its quantification and mechanisms are reviewed, particularly in relation to psychiatry. Research has demonstrated a notable placebo effect in depression: a large proportion of the clinical effect of antidepressant medication is attributable to the effect. Various mechanisms have been hypothesised: anxiety relief, expectation, transference, ‘meaning effects' and conditioning. Recent research from neuroimaging has unveiled that the effect is associated with biological correlates in the brain. Despite the renewal of research into the placebo effect, many questions remain unanswered. This partly reflects philosophical obstacles such as the mind/body dichotomy, which are inherent in conceptualising the effect. However, it also demonstrates the vast scope for further research into this area. Ultimately, an understanding of the processes that underlie the placebo effect should allow a rationalised therapeutic approach to be developed to maximise the clinical benefit of the therapeutic encounter.

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Effects of Inhalation of Geranium Essential Oil on Blood Pressure and Heart Rate in Mice

Natural Product Communications ◽

10.1177/1934578x19881534 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 14 (10) ◽

pp. 1934578X1988153

Author(s):

Rhuichiro Masubuchi ◽

Saori Watanabe ◽

Tadaaki Satou

Keyword(s):

Blood Pressure ◽

Heart Rate ◽

Essential Oil ◽

Placebo Effect ◽

Animal Experiments ◽

Chromatography Analysis ◽

Gas Chromatography Analysis ◽

Lower Blood ◽

The Mind ◽

The Brain

For a better scientific understanding of the basics of aromatherapy, our research group attempted to clarify the effectiveness of the essential oil from Pelargonium graveolens (EOPG, geranium essential oil), which is used to try and balance the mind-body connection. In order to eliminate any possible placebo effect, we used animal experiments that are considered to be insensitive to the placebo effect. Measurements of blood pressure and heart rate in the mouse tail artery were used as a reflection of the mind-body balance. Thirty minutes after inhalation of EOPG (5 µL/L air) for 90 minutes, blood pressure and heart rate of the mice were measured. EOPG significantly reduced blood pressure and heart rate. To further clarify the factors responsible for these effects, gas chromatography analysis was performed in order to determine the components transferred into the brain after the EOPG inhalation. Linalool, citronellol, and geraniol were detected at concentrations around 0.1 nL/L tissue from the brain after 10 µL/L air inhalation of EOPG. However, these were not detected after a 5 µL/L air inhalation of EOPG, as the levels were below the detection limit. These results suggest EOPG inhalation might lower blood pressure and heart rate, with the expressed effects associated with the transfer of components such as linalool into the brain.

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Lighting Up the Brain to Illuminate the Mind

Contemporary Psychology ◽

10.1037/004852 ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 49 (6) ◽

pp. 713-716

Author(s):

Ellen S. Berscheid

Keyword(s):

The Mind ◽

The Brain

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How Does the Brain Make the Mind? We Do Not Know.

PsycCRITIQUES ◽

10.1037/a0040351 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 61 (32) ◽

Author(s):

Christopher A. Was

Keyword(s):

The Mind ◽

The Brain

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Big Heads title page

10.31237/osf.io/3phfn ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

vernon thornton

Keyword(s):

Title Page ◽

Language Of Thought ◽

Correct Version ◽

Evolutionary Context ◽

The Mind ◽

The Brain

A description of of the mind and its relationship to the brain, set in an evolutionary context. Introduction of a correct version of 'language-of-thought' called 'thinkish'.

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Zombies and Dolls

10.1093/oso/9780198728443.003.0002 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Marcello Massimini ◽

Giulio Tononi

Keyword(s):

Body Problem ◽

Thought Experiments ◽

Turing Test ◽

Hard Problem ◽

Mind Body Problem ◽

The Hard Problem ◽

The Mind ◽

The Brain

This chapter uses thought experiments and practical examples to introduce, in a very accessible way, the hard problem of consciousness. Soon, machines may behave like us to pass the Turing test and scientists may succeed in copying and simulating the inner workings of the brain. Will all this take us any closer to solving the mysteries of consciousness? The reader is taken to meet different kind of zombies, the philosophical, the digital, and the inner ones, to understand why many, scientists and philosophers alike, doubt that the mind–body problem will ever be solved.

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Agency, Responsibility, Selves, and the Mechanical Mind

Philosophies ◽

10.3390/philosophies6010007 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 6 (1) ◽

pp. 7

Author(s):

Fiorella Battaglia

Keyword(s):

Philosophy Of Technology ◽

Extended Mind ◽

Human Machine Interaction ◽

Person Perspective ◽

Legal Perspective ◽

Area Of Concern ◽

Third Person Perspective ◽

The Mind ◽

The Impact ◽

The Brain

Moral issues arise not only when neural technology directly influences and affects people’s lives, but also when the impact of its interventions indirectly conceptualizes the mind in new, and unexpected ways. It is the case that theories of consciousness, theories of subjectivity, and third person perspective on the brain provide rival perspectives addressing the mind. Through a review of these three main approaches to the mind, and particularly as applied to an “extended mind”, the paper identifies a major area of transformation in philosophy of action, which is understood in terms of additional epistemic devices—including a legal perspective of regulating the human–machine interaction and a personality theory of the symbiotic connection between human and machine. I argue this is a new area of concern within philosophy, which will be characterized in terms of self-objectification, which becomes “alienation” following Ernst Kapp’s philosophy of technology. The paper argues that intervening in the brain can affect how we conceptualize the mind and modify its predicaments.

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