Context Interventions: Social Modeling and Initial Treatment Experience
Public ClinicalTrials.gov record NCT04646460. Field values are reproduced from the official study page; the official ClinicalTrials.gov record remains the source of truth for eligibility, enrollment, and contact information.
Data is sourced from official ClinicalTrials.gov public API records. Always review the official ClinicalTrials.gov record for the latest information.
Brief summary
Reproduced verbatim from the official ClinicalTrials.gov record. Not medical advice.
In this experiment, the investigators study the brain pathways underlying several promising context interventions that enhance the strength of placebo effects. Specifically, the investigators examine the separate and joint effects of two of the most powerful context interventions: Social modeling-observing someone else being effectively treated-and prior treatment success or failure experiences. Participants will be randomized into 4 groups (Social modeling: observed success vs. observed failure and Conditioning: experienced success vs. experienced failure). The objectives are to investigate the placebo effect on pain relief and aversive image stimuli between and within-subjects. Each group will undergo a behavioral induction phase, fMRI placebo test phase, and an identical 3-month follow up fMRI placebo test phase. Follow-up assessment will provide some of the first evidence on predictors of the durability of placebo and context interventions.
Study identification
- NCT ID
- NCT04646460
- Recruitment status
- Not yet recruiting
- Study type
- Interventional
- Phase
- Not applicable
- Enrollment
- 120 participants
Conditions and interventions
Conditions
Interventions
- Observed Success Behavioral
- Observed Failure Behavioral
- Experienced Success Behavioral
- Experienced Failure Behavioral
Behavioral
Eligibility (public fields only)
- Age range
- 18 Years to 55 Years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Accepts healthy volunteers
This page does not interpret eligibility. Detailed inclusion and exclusion criteria are on the official ClinicalTrials.gov record.
Study timeline
- Start date
- Nov 30, 2026
- Primary completion
- Nov 30, 2027
- Completion
- Nov 30, 2028
- Last update posted
- Jan 15, 2026
2026 – 2028
United States locations
- U.S. sites
- 1
- U.S. states
- 1
- U.S. cities
- 1
| Facility | City | State | ZIP | Site status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dartmouth College | Hanover | New Hampshire | 03755 | — |
Site contact phone numbers, emails, and investigator names are intentionally not displayed here. Open the official ClinicalTrials.gov record for site contact information.
About this trial record page
- What this page shows
- Public field values for ClinicalTrials.gov record NCT04646460, including study identification, conditions, interventions, eligibility (age, sex, healthy volunteer), timeline, and U.S. site list.
- What this page does not do
- No medical advice, eligibility judgments, treatment recommendations, study quality scoring, or AI-generated medical summaries. No site contact phone numbers, emails, or investigator names.
- Where the data comes from
- Sourced from the official ClinicalTrials.gov public API. The official record is the source of truth.
- Last refresh
- Last update posted Jan 15, 2026 · Synced Sep 2, 2026
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Open the official record
The complete protocol, eligibility criteria, and contact information for NCT04646460 live on ClinicalTrials.gov.