Placebo Effect on Motor Skill Learning:A Randomized, Double-Blind, and Placebo-Controlled Study

The purpose of this investigation was to determine the effects of placebo treatment on the performance of a motor skill. One-hundred eight college students participated in the study. Four experimental conditions were created: (1) near infrared activating group with placebo instructions , (2) near infrared activating group without placebo instructions , (3) placebo group with placebo instructions, and (4) placebo group without placebo instructions . Participants performed four blocks of 10 trials each for the acquisition phase. ANOVAs with repeated measures on the last factor were performed on the various dependent variables: Absolute error, variable error, directional error, and radial error. The results of this investigation revealed significant main effects for group on the absolute error and variable error. The present study suggests that the placebo effect does not influence motor skill tasks in which perception and cognitive information processing are important.