Among the methods for cognitive control of pain, the suggestions for analgesia - direct or indirect - have been widely and successfully used in experimental and clinical trials. The primary aim of this study was to contribute to the debate about the difference in the effectiveness of indirect and direct suggestions for management of experimental pain in the ordinary state of consciousness. The secondary aim of the study was to ascertain the role of hypnotizability and expectation of pain relief in the suggestions\' effect. A sample of 65 healthy participants with different levels of direct (HGSHS: A score) and indirect suggestibility level (AWIHSS score) and different levels of declared expectation of pain relief was submitted to direct and indirect suggestions for analgesia during cold pressure test. The results showed that both direct and indirect suggestions increase the threshold of experimental pain and that the expectation of pain relief is relevant only to the effect of direct suggestions. Perspective. Although the reported findings cannot be extended to clinical pain, they suggest that indirect suggestions can be effective independently from the expectation of pain relief, thus evading the possible negative effects of traits such as catastrophism or reactance. Thus, indirect suggestions should be preferred in clinical contexts.

UNASSIGNED: Annually, approximately 31,000 people experience a termination of pregnancy (TOP) in the Netherlands. In 2021, about one-third of them chose medical termination of pregnancy (MTOP). We explored experiences with MTOP and to what extent expectations, pain, and counselling in the clinic are associated with satisfaction with MTOP.
UNASSIGNED: A retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted using an online questionnaire. We included 138 respondents, ≥16 years, who chose MTOP (September 2020-March 2022).
UNASSIGNED: The majority of respondents experienced MTOP more positively than expected or as expected (67%). For 24%, the experience was more negative than expected. In the event of another TOP, half of these respondents would hesitate to choose or would not choose MTOP, mainly due to physical side effects. The majority of respondents (73%) would choose MTOP again. Their main motivation was self-determination during treatment. Respondents cited four key elements: pain, intensity of experience during and after treatment, blood loss, and duration. Correspondence between MTOP expectations and experiences was associated with satisfaction with MTOP, while pain and satisfaction with counselling were not.
UNASSIGNED: The majority of respondents were satisfied with MTOP and would choose the treatment again. Non-correspondence between expectations and experiences negatively affected satisfaction with MTOP. This highlights the importance of managing expectations by providing accessible information about the variety in expectations and experiences to patients with a focus on key elements of the experience.
The majority experienced the abortion pill more positively than expected or as expected. Four experience elements are key: pain, intensity during and after treatment, blood loss, duration. Information about these elements is crucial since non-correspondence of expectation and experience negatively affects satisfaction.

UNASSIGNED: Pain can automatically interfere with ongoing cognitive processes such as attention and memory. The extent of pain\'s negative effects on cognitive functioning seems to depend on a balance between top-down and bottom-up factors.
UNASSIGNED: In this large, preregistered, pooled reanalysis of 8 studies, we investigated the robustness of the detrimental effect of acute pain on recognition memory and whether top-down mechanisms such as pain-related expectations or cognitions (pain-related fear, pain catastrophizing) modulate this effect.
UNASSIGNED: Two hundred forty-seven healthy participants underwent similar experimental paradigms, including a visual categorization task with images randomly paired with (or without) concomitant painful stimulation and a subsequent unannounced recognition task. Recognition memory (ie, d\', recollection, and familiarity) and categorization performance (ie, reaction time, accuracy) served as proxies for the effect of pain on cognitive performance.
UNASSIGNED: Acute painful stimulation significantly impaired recognition performance (d\', familiarity). However, recognition performance was not significantly modulated by participants\' expectations regarding the effect of pain on task performance or pain-related cognitions in this sample of healthy participants.
UNASSIGNED: Our results corroborate the negative effects of pain on (visual) memory encoding reported in previous studies and reports of \"memory problems\" from patients with chronic pain. To characterize the role of bottom-up and top-down factors for the detrimental effects of pain, large-scale studies with more nuanced study designs are necessary. Future studies in patient cohorts must unravel the interaction of maladaptive pain-related cognitions and the often-reported impaired cognitive performance in chronic pain patients.

A promising stream of investigations is targeting ongoing neural oscillations and whether their modulation could be related to the perception of pain. Using an electroencephalography (EEG) frequency-tagging approach, sustained periodic thermonociceptive stimuli perceived as painful have been shown to modulate ongoing oscillations in the theta, alpha and beta bands at the frequency of stimulation. Nonetheless, it remains uncertain whether these modulations are indeed linked to pain perception. To test this relationship, we modulated pain perception using a cue-based expectation modulation paradigm and investigated whether ongoing oscillations in different frequency bands mirror the changes in stimulus perception. Forty healthy participants were instructed that a visual cue can precede either a high- or low-intensity stimulation. These cues were paired with three different levels of sustained periodic thermonociceptive stimuli (low, medium and high). Despite a strong effect of expectation on perceived stimulus intensity, this effect was not reflected in the modulation of the ongoing oscillations, suggesting a potential dissociation of pain perception and these oscillatory activities. Rather, it seems that the intensity of stimulation is the primary generator of the frequency-tagged EEG responses. Importantly, these results need to be confirmed by further investigations that could allow the detection of smaller effects than originally estimated.

Expectation of a future stimulus increases the preparedness to act once it actually appears and results in reduced latency of the appropriate motor response. Real world events are uncertain both spatially and/or temporally but this uncertainty could itself be expected. In the presence of both expected spatial and temporal uncertainty, which one should be prioritized by the motor system could depend on the context. Therefore, we investigated the relative weight of expected spatial and temporal uncertainty during the preparation of a saccadic eye movement. A reaction time task was used with a variable foreperiod between a warning and an imperative visual stimuli. Expected temporal and/or spatial uncertainty associated with the stimulus was cued. We found that before imperative stimulus onset, pupil dilation increased with expected temporal uncertainty but was unaltered by spatial uncertainty. After imperative stimulus onset, both types of expected uncertainty affected saccade latency. Maximum eye velocity was modulated by expected spatial uncertainty only. In conclusion, expected temporal and spatial uncertainty do not have the same impact on preparation and execution of a motor response. There could be a prioritization of the relevant information as a function of the evolving expected uncertainty context during the task.

This chapter describes the placebo effect in the context of physical activity and mental health. Following a brief historical overview, definitions for placebos, placebo effects, and related terminology are discussed. Next, three major methodological challenges posed from studying the placebo effect in the context of exercise are described. Additionally, the role of a primary psychological mechanism of placebo and nocebo effects - expectations - will be summarized through the lens of key terminology. Findings from relevant chronic and acute exercise studies that have measured or manipulated exercise-associated expectations will be presented. The chapter concludes with recommendations for controlling or quantifying the placebo effect in exercise and mental health research and its implications in clinical practice.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the most common concomitant symptoms and the urgent demand of solution in the breast cancer patients undergoing postoperative endocrine treatment, as well as the acceptance and expectation of acupuncture in the patients so as to provide the scientific data for promoting the application of acupuncture in the breast cancer patients.
METHODS: Breast cancer patients treated in Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute and Hospital from January 2022 to March 2023 were randomly selected as the subjects. Using \"questionnaire star\" website, the questionnaire was conducted to investigate the relevant concomitant symptoms of the patients in postoperative endocrine treatment and the questions related to acupuncture treatment.
RESULTS: In this study, 229 questionnaires were distributed and 211 valid ones were collected, with the response rate of 92.1%. Among these patients, the first three common symptoms were sleep disorders (157 cases, 74.4%), hot flashes (138 cases, 65.4%) and joint / muscle pain (118 cases, 55.9%)；the top three symptoms to be solved the most urgently were sleep disorders (131 cases, 62.1%), joint / muscle pain (62 cases, 29.4%) and hot flashes (45 cases, 21.3%). 79.1% of the patients (167 cases) were willing to receive acupuncture treatment because of the high expectations on its potential effect (93%). 20.9% of them (44 cases) refused acupuncture because they were worried not to be treated by the experienced physicians of TCM (52%) or afraid of needling feelings (48%). The average expectation value of acupuncture treatment was 4.02 points (5 points for the total score) among patients willing to receive acupuncture treatment. The main purposes of receiring acupuncture for the patients undergoing endocrine treatment were to strengthen the immune function (92%), reduce the adverse reactions (83%), and improve the physical condition (75%), et al.
CONCLUSIONS: Sleep disorder is one of the most concerned symptoms in endocrine treatment for the patients after breast cancer surgery. The patients highly expect for acupuncture treatment even though some patients dislike the needling sensation. How to provide the acceptable and high-quality acupuncture services for cancer patients will be one of the major directions of acupuncture research in the future.
目的: 调查乳腺癌术后内分泌治疗患者最常见和最迫切需要解决的伴随症状及乳腺癌患者对于针灸的接受度和期望，为推广针灸在治疗乳腺癌中的应用提供科学依据。方法: 随机选取2022年1月至2023年3月在天津医科大学肿瘤医院就诊的乳腺癌患者作为研究对象，采用“问卷星”方式发放问卷，进行术后内分泌治疗相关伴随症状及针灸治疗相关内容的问卷调查。结果: 本研究共发放调查问卷229份，回收有效问卷211份，问卷回收率为92.1%。在这些患者中，最常出现的前3个症状为睡眠障碍（157例，74.4%）、潮热（138例，65.4%）、关节/肌肉疼痛（118例，55.9%）；患者最迫切需要解决的3个症状为睡眠障碍（131例，62.1%），关节/肌肉疼痛（62例，29.4%），潮热（45例，21.3%）。79.1%的患者（167例）愿意接受针灸治疗，其主要原因为患者有较高的期望，认为针灸可能有效果（93%）。20.9%的患者（44例）拒绝接受针灸治疗，其主要原因为很难找到好中医（52%）和害怕针刺感觉（48%）。愿意接受针灸治疗的患者的针灸治疗平均期望值为4.02分（总分5分），乳腺癌内分泌治疗患者对接受针灸治疗期望的主要目的是增强身体免疫功能（92%）、减少不良反应（83%）、改善身体状况（75%）等。结论: 睡眠障碍是乳腺癌术后内分泌治疗患者最关注的症状之一，患者对针灸治疗具有较高的期望值，但部分患者又惧怕针刺感觉。为肿瘤患者提供可及且舒适的针灸高质量服务是今后针灸临床的重要研究方向之一。.

Goal-directed actions are performed in order to attain certain sensory consequences in the world. However, expected attributes of these consequences can affect the kinetics of the action. In a set of three studies (n = 120), we examined how expected attributes of stimulus outcome (intensity) shape the kinetics of the triggering action (applied force), even when the action kinetic and attribute are independent. We show that during action execution (button presses), the expected intensity of sensory outcome affects the applied force of the stimulus-producing action in an inverse fashion. Thus, participants applied more force when the expected intensity of the outcome was low (vs. high intensity outcome). In the absence of expectations or when actions were performed in response to the sensory event, no intensity-dependent force modulations were found. Thus, expectations of stimulus intensity and causality play an important role in shaping action kinetics. Finally, we examined the relationship between kinetics and perception and found no influence of applied force level on perceptual detection of low intensity (near-threshold) outcome stimuli, suggesting no causal link between the two. Taken together, our results demonstrate that action kinetics are embedded with high-level context such as the expectation of consequence intensity and the causal relationship with environmental cues.

BACKGROUND: Although some existing models propose that attention may be crucially implicated in placebo/nocebo effects, empirical research on this aspect remains limited and scattered.
OBJECTIVE: This systematic review aims to provide an inclusive overview of studies that have either directly manipulated or assessed attention within the context of placebo and nocebo procedures so to gain a synthetized picture of the role of this variable in placebo/nocebo effects. Importantly, only studies in which attention represented a mechanism or mediator of the placebo/nocebo response, and not a primary outcome, were included.
METHODS: A systematic search was conducted across multiple databases, including PubMed, Scopus, PsycINFO, Web of Science, and Embase, to identify peer-reviewed studies. These studies were subjected to methodological evaluation and eligibility criteria for inclusion.
RESULTS: We identified and classified 12 studies into three categories based on their focus: (i) those that directly assessed attention, (ii) those that directly manipulated participants\' attention, and (iii) those that combined both a direct manipulation and assessment of attention. In all selected studies attention acted as a mechanism or mediator of the placebo/nocebo response, and was not considered a primary outcome of the placebo/nocebo manipulation.
CONCLUSIONS: The synthesis of the included studies reveals that the role of attention in placebo and nocebo effects is still a topic of debate, marked by variations in how attention is conceptualized and measured. Results suggest that attention has significant clinical implications, particularly in optimizing therapeutic efficacy by directing patients\' focus toward signs of healing and away from indicators of illness or distress. To advance our understanding, future research should explore these attentional mechanisms, in conjunction with neurophysiological correlates.
To date, empirical research on the role of attention in placebo/nocebo effects remains scarce and inconclusive. The aim of this systematic review is to offer an overview of studies that have either directly manipulated or assessed attention as a mechanism or mediator of placebo/nocebo responses. Peer-review studies were subjected to methodological evaluation and eligibility criteria, and 12 studies were selected and classified into 3 categories based on their focus: (i) those that directly assessed attention, (ii) those that directly manipulated participants’ attention, and (iii) those that combined both a direct manipulation and assessment of attention. The synthesis of the included studies points to the nuanced methodological approaches to the study of the role of attention in placebo and nocebo effects, marked by variations in how this variable is conceptualized and measured. Overall, results support the idea that placebo/nocebo effects are not always a direct byproduct of expectations, with attention acting as an important factor to consider when exploring this relationship. Particularly, attention plays an important role in optimizing therapeutic efficacy by directing patients’ focus toward signs of healing and away from indicators of illness or distress.

Semantic relatedness and expectation were investigated in inattentional blindness-failure to perceive an unexpected object in plain sight when attention is engaged elsewhere. Participants named primary-task pictures and ignored distractor pictures. Four trials preceded a \'critical\' trial where an unexpected six-letter-word appeared at fixation, simultaneously with the pictures. In Experiment 1, we found robust effects for both in-lab and on-line-Zoom methodology. More participants reported the unexpected word semantically-related to the primary-task pictures than a semantically-unrelated word. In Experiment 2, expectations were violated, by changing the semantic category of the primary-task pictures. More participants reported the unexpected word semantically-related to the unexpected picture category than a semantically-unrelated word. When attentional resources are consumed by a task, a violation to task expectations is not enough to reorient attention to an unexpected word. Attention reorients to what is meaningful to the task, and what is meaningful is updated in light of unexpected information.