Expectancy-Mood Neural Dynamics Predict Mechanisms of Short- and Long-Term Antidepressant Placebo Effects.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Acute experimental models of antidepressant placebo effects suggest that expectancies, encoded within the salience network (SN), are reinforced by sensory evidence and mood fluctuations. However, whether these dynamics extend to longer timescales remains unknown. To answer this question, we investigated how SN and default mode network (DMN) functional connectivity during the processing of antidepressant expectancies facilitates the shift from salience attribution to contextual cues in the SN to belief-induced mood responses in the DMN, both acutely and long term.

Methods

Sixty psychotropic-free patients with major depressive disorder completed an acute antidepressant placebo functional magnetic resonance imaging experiment manipulating placebo-associated expectanc

SUBMITTER: Handoko K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12246166 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature