Mapping expectancy-based appetitive placebo effects onto the brain in women

Iraj Khalid, Belina Rodrigues, Hippolyte Dreyfus, Solène Frileux, Karin Meissner, Philippe Fossati, Todd Anthony Hare and Liane Schmidt ()
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Iraj Khalid: INSERM, CNRS, APHP, Hôpital de la Pitié-Salpêtrière
Belina Rodrigues: INSERM, CNRS, APHP, Hôpital de la Pitié-Salpêtrière
Hippolyte Dreyfus: INSERM, CNRS, APHP, Hôpital de la Pitié-Salpêtrière
Solène Frileux: INSERM, CNRS, APHP, Hôpital de la Pitié-Salpêtrière
Karin Meissner: Medical Faculty, LMU Munich
Philippe Fossati: INSERM, CNRS, APHP, Hôpital de la Pitié-Salpêtrière
Todd Anthony Hare: University of Zürich
Liane Schmidt: INSERM, CNRS, APHP, Hôpital de la Pitié-Salpêtrière

Nature Communications, 2024, vol. 15, issue 1, 1-16

Abstract: Abstract Suggestions about hunger can generate placebo effects on hunger experiences. But, the underlying neurocognitive mechanisms are unknown. Here, we show in 255 women that hunger expectancies, induced by suggestion-based placebo interventions, determine hunger sensations and economic food choices. Functional magnetic resonance imaging in a subgroup (n = 57/255) provides evidence that the strength of expecting the placebo to decrease hunger moderates medial prefrontal cortex activation at the time of food choice and attenuates ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) responses to food value. Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex activation linked to interference resolution formally mediates the suggestion-based placebo effects on hunger. A drift-diffusion model characterizes this effect by showing that the hunger suggestions bias participants’ food choices and how much they weigh tastiness against the healthiness of food, which further moderates vmPFC–dlPFC psychophysiological interactions when participants expect decreased hunger. Thus, suggestion-induced beliefs about hunger shape hunger addressing economic choices through cognitive regulation of value computation within the prefrontal cortex.

Date: 2024
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-44569-1

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