Researchers in Sweden and Finland say they have finally shown what scientists have long suspected: that a placebo activates the same brain circuits as painkilling drugs. This first brain imaging study of placebo analgesia, reported online this week by Science (http://www.sciencexpress.org/), graphically illustrates the principle that higher brain functions help control how humans perceive pain, say the researchers, headed by neuroscientist Predrag Petrovic of Stockholm's Karolinska Institute.
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Constance Holden (2002) studied this question.