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Effects of Expectancy on Cognitive Performance, Mood, and Psychophysiology in Healthy Adolescents and Their Parents in an Experimental Study

OBJECTIVE: Placebo effects on cognitive performance and mood and their underlying mechanisms have rarely been investigated in adolescents. Therefore, the following hypotheses were investigated with an experimental paradigm: (1) placebo effects could be larger in adolescents than in adults, (2) paren...

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Autores principales: Watolla, Daniel, Mazurak, Nazar, Gruss, Sascha, Gulewitsch, Marco D., Schwille-Kiuntke, Juliane, Sauer, Helene, Enck, Paul, Weimer, Katja
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7089870/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32256416
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2020.00213
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author Watolla, Daniel
Mazurak, Nazar
Gruss, Sascha
Gulewitsch, Marco D.
Schwille-Kiuntke, Juliane
Sauer, Helene
Enck, Paul
Weimer, Katja
author_facet Watolla, Daniel
Mazurak, Nazar
Gruss, Sascha
Gulewitsch, Marco D.
Schwille-Kiuntke, Juliane
Sauer, Helene
Enck, Paul
Weimer, Katja
author_sort Watolla, Daniel
collection PubMed
description OBJECTIVE: Placebo effects on cognitive performance and mood and their underlying mechanisms have rarely been investigated in adolescents. Therefore, the following hypotheses were investigated with an experimental paradigm: (1) placebo effects could be larger in adolescents than in adults, (2) parents’ expectations influence their adolescents’ expectations and placebo effects, and (3) a decrease in stress levels could be an underlying mechanism of placebo effects. METHODS: Twenty-six healthy adolescents (13.8 ± 1.6 years, 14 girls) each with a parent (45.5 ± 4.2 years, 17 mothers) took part in an experimental within-subjects study. On two occasions, a transdermal patch was applied to their hips and they received an envelope containing either the information that it is a Ginkgo patch to improve cognitive performance and mood, or it is an inactive placebo patch, in counterbalanced order. Cognitive performance and mood were assessed with a parametric Go/No-Go task (PGNG), a modification of California Verbal Learning Test, and Profile of Mood Scales (POMS). Subjects rated their expectations about Ginkgo’s effects before patch application as well as their subjective assessment of its effects after the tests. An electrocardiogram and skin conductance levels (SCLs) were recorded and root mean square of successive differences (RMSSD), high-frequency power (HF), and the area under the curve of the SCL (AUC) were analyzed as psychophysiological stress markers. RESULTS: Expectations did not differ between adolescents and parents and were correlated concerning reaction times only. Overall, expectations did not influence placebo effects. There was only one significant placebo effect on the percentage of correct inhibited trials in one level of the PGNG in adolescents, but not in parents. RMSSD and HF significantly increased, and AUC decreased from pre- to post-patch application in adolescents, but not in parents. CONCLUSION: With this experimental paradigm, we could not induce relevant placebo effects in adolescents and parents. This could be due to aspects of the study design such as application form and substance, and that healthy subjects were employed. Nevertheless, we could show that adolescents are more sensitive to psychophysiological reactions related with interventions which could be part of the underlying mechanisms of placebo effects in adolescents.
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spelling pubmed-70898702020-03-31 Effects of Expectancy on Cognitive Performance, Mood, and Psychophysiology in Healthy Adolescents and Their Parents in an Experimental Study Watolla, Daniel Mazurak, Nazar Gruss, Sascha Gulewitsch, Marco D. Schwille-Kiuntke, Juliane Sauer, Helene Enck, Paul Weimer, Katja Front Psychiatry Psychiatry OBJECTIVE: Placebo effects on cognitive performance and mood and their underlying mechanisms have rarely been investigated in adolescents. Therefore, the following hypotheses were investigated with an experimental paradigm: (1) placebo effects could be larger in adolescents than in adults, (2) parents’ expectations influence their adolescents’ expectations and placebo effects, and (3) a decrease in stress levels could be an underlying mechanism of placebo effects. METHODS: Twenty-six healthy adolescents (13.8 ± 1.6 years, 14 girls) each with a parent (45.5 ± 4.2 years, 17 mothers) took part in an experimental within-subjects study. On two occasions, a transdermal patch was applied to their hips and they received an envelope containing either the information that it is a Ginkgo patch to improve cognitive performance and mood, or it is an inactive placebo patch, in counterbalanced order. Cognitive performance and mood were assessed with a parametric Go/No-Go task (PGNG), a modification of California Verbal Learning Test, and Profile of Mood Scales (POMS). Subjects rated their expectations about Ginkgo’s effects before patch application as well as their subjective assessment of its effects after the tests. An electrocardiogram and skin conductance levels (SCLs) were recorded and root mean square of successive differences (RMSSD), high-frequency power (HF), and the area under the curve of the SCL (AUC) were analyzed as psychophysiological stress markers. RESULTS: Expectations did not differ between adolescents and parents and were correlated concerning reaction times only. Overall, expectations did not influence placebo effects. There was only one significant placebo effect on the percentage of correct inhibited trials in one level of the PGNG in adolescents, but not in parents. RMSSD and HF significantly increased, and AUC decreased from pre- to post-patch application in adolescents, but not in parents. CONCLUSION: With this experimental paradigm, we could not induce relevant placebo effects in adolescents and parents. This could be due to aspects of the study design such as application form and substance, and that healthy subjects were employed. Nevertheless, we could show that adolescents are more sensitive to psychophysiological reactions related with interventions which could be part of the underlying mechanisms of placebo effects in adolescents. Frontiers Media S.A. 2020-03-17 /pmc/articles/PMC7089870/ /pubmed/32256416 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2020.00213 Text en Copyright © 2020 Watolla, Mazurak, Gruss, Gulewitsch, Schwille-Kiuntke, Sauer, Enck and Weimer http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Psychiatry
Watolla, Daniel
Mazurak, Nazar
Gruss, Sascha
Gulewitsch, Marco D.
Schwille-Kiuntke, Juliane
Sauer, Helene
Enck, Paul
Weimer, Katja
Effects of Expectancy on Cognitive Performance, Mood, and Psychophysiology in Healthy Adolescents and Their Parents in an Experimental Study
title Effects of Expectancy on Cognitive Performance, Mood, and Psychophysiology in Healthy Adolescents and Their Parents in an Experimental Study
title_full Effects of Expectancy on Cognitive Performance, Mood, and Psychophysiology in Healthy Adolescents and Their Parents in an Experimental Study
title_fullStr Effects of Expectancy on Cognitive Performance, Mood, and Psychophysiology in Healthy Adolescents and Their Parents in an Experimental Study
title_full_unstemmed Effects of Expectancy on Cognitive Performance, Mood, and Psychophysiology in Healthy Adolescents and Their Parents in an Experimental Study
title_short Effects of Expectancy on Cognitive Performance, Mood, and Psychophysiology in Healthy Adolescents and Their Parents in an Experimental Study
title_sort effects of expectancy on cognitive performance, mood, and psychophysiology in healthy adolescents and their parents in an experimental study
topic Psychiatry
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7089870/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32256416
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2020.00213
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