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. 2025 Oct 28;14:RP105753. doi: 10.7554/eLife.105753

Appendix 1—table 2. Results of multiple linear regression analyses with expectations, prior experience and psychological factors as independent variables and placebo effect or nocebo effect as the dependent variable.

Beta Std error t-value P-value
Day 1: placebo effect
Intercept 1.294 22.168
 Expected improvement pre-conditioning (GEEE) –0.531 0.750 –0.708 0.481
 Conditioning placebo effect (VAS rating) 0.303 0.097 3.120 0.002**
 Expected improvement on day 1 (GEEE) 0.626 0.575 1.088 0.280
Psychological variables:
 Somatosensory amplification –0.654 0.227 –2.877 0.005**
 Trait anxiety 0.042 0.334 0.126 0.900
 Trait depression 0.220 0.308 0.712 0.478
 Behavioural inhibition –1.528 3.100 –0.493 0.623
 Behavioural activation 4.922 3.299 1.492 0.139
 Pain catastrophising 0.070 0.136 0.511 0.611
 Experimenter warmth –4.161 3.027 –1.375 0.173
 Experimenter competence 4.732 3.742 1.265 0.209
Day 1: nocebo effect
Intercept –36.384 15.752 –2.310 0.023
 Expected worsening pre-conditioning (GEEE) 0.402 0.470 0.856 0.394
 Conditioning nocebo effect (VAS rating) 0.131 0.078 1.690 0.095
 Expected worsening on day 1 (GEEE) 0.200 0.442 0.454 0.651
Psychological variables:
 Somatosensory amplification –0.206 0.167 –1.235 0.220
 Trait anxiety 0.445 0.255 1.745 0.084
 Trait depression –0.096 0.225 –0.425 0.672
 Behavioural inhibition 4.011 2.312 1.735 0.086
 Behavioural activation 4.800 2.416 1.987 0.050
 Pain catastrophising 0.084 0.098 0.857 0.394
 Experimenter warmth –0.352 2.314 –0.152 0.879
 Experimenter competence 5.791 2.801 2.067 0.042*
Day 8: placebo effect
Intercept 17.843 14.498 1.231 0.222
 Expected improvement pre-conditioning (GEEE) –0.702 0.496 –1.417 0.160
 Conditioning placebo effect (VAS rating) 0.063 0.073 0.863 0.391
 Expected improvement on day 1 (GEEE) –0.949 0.507 –1.872 0.065
 Placebo effect on day 1 (VAS rating) 0.382 0.071 5.343 <0.001***
 Expected improvement on day 8 (GEEE) 1.131 0.536 2.110 0.038*
Psychological variables:
 Somatosensory amplification 0.233 0.167 1.396 0.167
 Trait anxiety –0.215 0.227 –0.948 0.346
 Trait depression –0.217 0.218 –0.995 0.323
 Behavioural inhibition –1.344 2.051 –0.655 0.514
 Behavioural activation –1.166 2.232 –0.522 0.603
 Pain catastrophising –0.129 0.092 –1.403 0.165
 Experimenter warmth –0.727 2.059 –0.353 0.725
 Experimenter competence –0.563 2.499 –0.225 0.822
Day 8: nocebo effect
Intercept –9.215 17.887 –0.515 0.608
 Expected worsening pre-conditioning (GEEE) 0.650 0.580 1.122 0.265
 Conditioning nocebo effect (VAS rating) 0.103 0.092 1.119 0.267
 Expected worsening on day 1 (GEEE) –0.325 0.565 –0.574 0.567
 Nocebo effect on day 1 (VAS rating) 0.290 0.124 2.349 0.021*
 Expected worsening on day 8 (GEEE) –0.154 0.516 –0.298 0.766
Psychological variables:
 Somatosensory amplification –0.080 0.199 –0.403 0.688
 Trait anxiety 0.099 0.288 0.345 0.731
 Trait depression 0.093 0.261 0.356 0.723
 Behavioural inhibition 1.759 2.600 0.677 0.501
 Behavioural activation –1.615 2.861 –0.565 0.574
 Pain catastrophising 0.064 0.110 0.576 0.566
 Experimenter warmth 2.569 2.687 0.956 0.342
 Experimenter competence –0.608 3.190 –0.191 0.849

GEEE, Generic Rating Scale for Previous Treatment Experiences, Treatment Expectations, and Treatment Effect, VAS, visual analogue scale. Rief et al., 2021.

***P<0.001, **P<0.01, *P<0.05.