The placebo effect can be observed in experiments on animals and human infants
The placebo effect operates through conditioning and expectation mechanisms that are present and observable in both humans and non-human animal models.
The claim asserts that the placebo effect can be observed in experiments on animals and human infants (or nonhuman animals generally, noting that conditioning models apply to animals). Papers 3, 6, and 8 explicitly discuss non-human or animal research demonstrating placebo effects and conditioning mechanisms. There are no refuting papers.
Bin Chen, Nitsan Goldstein, Julia Dziubek, Akili Sundai, Shengli Zhao, Andrew Harrahill, Seonmi Choi, Vincent Prevosto, Fan Wang. Reverse-engineering placebo analgesia.. 2024. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2024.08.004
Paper 3 demonstrates that placebo analgesia and conditioning paradigms can be successfully established and observed in rodent (animal) models.
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Fabrizio Benedetti, Aziz Shaibani. A brief history of placebo.. 2025. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-443-29884-4.00009-1
Paper 6 explicitly states that the major mediators of placebo effects (expectations and conditioning) operate in both animals and humans.
Luana Colloca. Placebo, nocebo, and learning mechanisms.. 2014. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-44519-8_2
Paper 8 presents human and nonhuman research detailing learning mechanisms underlying placebo and nocebo responses.
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