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Subtle cues transmit placebo effects

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We have known for a while that different doctors can produce different effects using the same substance, or even placebo, such that otherwise effective treatments might become ineffective or placebo becomes effective. Chang and colleagues now clarify that such differential effects are likely transmitted by subtle facial cues, using a placebo–pain model.

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Correspondence to Harald Walach.

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Walach, H. Subtle cues transmit placebo effects. Nat Hum Behav 3, 1246–1247 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-019-0745-9

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