To choose or not to choose: Examining the influence of choice on elicitation of subjective and objective prescription stimulant placebo effects in the laboratory.
Alison Looby, Katherine A Berry, Anna M Petrey, Emma L Winterlind
{"title":"To choose or not to choose: Examining the influence of choice on elicitation of subjective and objective prescription stimulant placebo effects in the laboratory.","authors":"Alison Looby, Katherine A Berry, Anna M Petrey, Emma L Winterlind","doi":"10.1037/pha0000824","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Prescription stimulant misuse is prevalent among college students for cognitive, academic, and mood enhancement purposes. While prior research demonstrates placebo effects for subjective mood and drug effects, objective cognitive enhancement placebo effects have been less reliably produced in the laboratory, perhaps because lack of ability to choose to use a drug decreases ecological validity. This study examined whether prescription stimulant placebo effects were modulated by the ability to choose whether to use a drug. College students (<i>N</i> = 183; <i>M</i><sub>age</sub> = 19.48, 92.9% White non-Hispanic, 77.0% female) were randomized into choice (<i>n</i> = 95; ability to choose to ingest 10 mg Adderall [actually placebo]) or no-choice (<i>n</i> = 88; randomly assigned to receive drug [actually placebo] or no drug) conditions before completing subjective effect measures and cognitive tasks. Nearly, all choice participants (<i>n</i> = 90) decided to ingest drug (actually placebo), and were compared against no choice-expect drug (<i>n</i> = 40) and no choice-no drug (<i>n</i> = 48) participants. Replicating prior research, participants who believed they ingested drug indicated subjectively enhanced mood and drug effects on several indices compared to those who did not expect drug; this was not affected by choice. With one exception on a specific reaction time index, there were no placebo effects on objective cognitive tasks, and cognitive performance was similarly not affected by choice. These results provide further evidence of medium-large placebo effects for subjective, but not objective, outcomes following expected prescription stimulant use. Considerations surrounding methodological alterations to laboratory procedures which improve ecological validity are recommended to better understand the influence of both choice and prescription stimulant placebo effects. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).</p>","PeriodicalId":12089,"journal":{"name":"Experimental and clinical psychopharmacology","volume":" ","pages":"44-51"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6000,"publicationDate":"2026-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13470850/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Experimental and clinical psychopharmacology","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1037/pha0000824","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2025/12/18 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"PHARMACOLOGY & PHARMACY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Prescription stimulant misuse is prevalent among college students for cognitive, academic, and mood enhancement purposes. While prior research demonstrates placebo effects for subjective mood and drug effects, objective cognitive enhancement placebo effects have been less reliably produced in the laboratory, perhaps because lack of ability to choose to use a drug decreases ecological validity. This study examined whether prescription stimulant placebo effects were modulated by the ability to choose whether to use a drug. College students (N = 183; Mage = 19.48, 92.9% White non-Hispanic, 77.0% female) were randomized into choice (n = 95; ability to choose to ingest 10 mg Adderall [actually placebo]) or no-choice (n = 88; randomly assigned to receive drug [actually placebo] or no drug) conditions before completing subjective effect measures and cognitive tasks. Nearly, all choice participants (n = 90) decided to ingest drug (actually placebo), and were compared against no choice-expect drug (n = 40) and no choice-no drug (n = 48) participants. Replicating prior research, participants who believed they ingested drug indicated subjectively enhanced mood and drug effects on several indices compared to those who did not expect drug; this was not affected by choice. With one exception on a specific reaction time index, there were no placebo effects on objective cognitive tasks, and cognitive performance was similarly not affected by choice. These results provide further evidence of medium-large placebo effects for subjective, but not objective, outcomes following expected prescription stimulant use. Considerations surrounding methodological alterations to laboratory procedures which improve ecological validity are recommended to better understand the influence of both choice and prescription stimulant placebo effects. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).
期刊介绍：
Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology publishes advances in translational and interdisciplinary research on psychopharmacology, broadly defined, and/or substance abuse.
求助内容：
应助结果提醒方式：
京公网安备 11010802042870号
