Hosted by the School of Psychological Science
Abstract: People’s attentional biases towards (depictions of) food are associated with increased craving, overeating, weight gain, and subsequent overweight and obesity. These attention biases are especially problematic in obesogenic environments where food is almost always available, and high-calorie food cues are omnipresent. Decreasing visual attention biases—especially towards high-calorie "junk foods"—is a promising approach to promoting healthy eating habits. Placebos have been shown to reduce the time people spend gazing at high-calorie food cues and the appetite for the depicted foods. However, if placebo recipients discover the deception, they may feel deceived or distrustful. This may impair the relationship between patients and healthcare providers. The deception is circumvented by open-label placebos, which are placebos without deception. Contrary to deceptive placebos, the receivers know that they receive a treatment (e.g., a pill) without an active substance. Over the past few years, open-label placebos have been investigated as a potential alternative to deceptive placebos in multiple domains: Open-label placebos have been shown to decrease pain, cancer-related fatigue or emotional distress and increase health-promoting behaviours. However, research on open-label placebo effects on appetite and visual food processing is still scarce. In our department, we investigated open-label placebo effects on appetite and the visual processing of food cues and compared these effects to deceptive placebos.