title: Preventing motor training through nocebo suggestions.
abstract: Although placebos have repeatedly been shown to increase physical performance and endurance, much less is known about the effect of their negative counterpart, nocebos. Here, we employ negative suggestions and a sham electrical stimulation as a nocebo conditioning procedure in healthy subjects performing a leg extension exercise to total exhaustion. Using two different protocols, we analyze the contribution of expectation alone or the combination of conditioning and expectation to the nocebo effect evaluated as the change of work performed and rate of perceived exertion. We find that it is possible to negatively modulate the physical performance in both cases, and we argue that this effect can effectively offset the outcome of training programs.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience, University of Turin, Corso Raffaello 30, 10125, Torino, Italy. antonella.pollo@unito.it
authors.forename: Antonella
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pollo
authors.forename: Elisa
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Carlino
authors.forename: Lene
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Vase
authors.forename: Fabrizio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Benedetti
mesh_terms: D003213:Conditioning, Psychological / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010807:Physical Endurance / Q000502:physiology*; D013404:Suggestion; D055815:Young Adult