The power of the placebo effect - Emma Bryce
View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/the-power-of-the-placebo-effect-emma-bryce The placebo effect is an unexplained phenomenon wherein drugs, treatments, and therapies that aren't...
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In 1996, 56 volunteers took part in a study to test a new painkiller called Trivaricaine. On each subject, one index finger was covered in the new painkiller while the other remained untouched. Then, both were squeezed in painful clamps. The subjects reported that the treated finger hurt less than the untreated one. This shouldn't be surprising, except Trivaricaine wasn't actually a painkiller, just a fake concotion with no pain-easing properties at all. What made the students so sure this dummy drug had worked? The answer lies in the placebo effect, an unexplained phenomenon wherein drugs, treatments, and therapies that aren't supposed to have an effect, and are often fake, miraculously make people feel better. Doctors have used the term pl...
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In 1996, 56 volunteers took part in a study to test a new painkiller called Trivaricaine. On each subject, one index finger was covered in the new painkiller while the other remained untouched. Then, both were squeezed in painful clamps. The subjects reported that the treated finger hurt less than the untreated one. This shouldn't be surprising, except Trivaricaine wasn't actually a painkiller, just a fake concotion with no pain-easing properties at all. What made the students so sure this dummy drug had worked? The answer lies in the placebo effect, an unexplained phenomenon wherein drugs, treatments, and therapies that aren't supposed to have an effect, and are often fake, miraculously make people feel better. Doctors have used the term pl...
