Placebo effect has been applied in multiple aspects and the different components of placebo effect have already been studied in many different researches. Taste, which is one of the physiological effects, is a vital component of the placebo effect, and according to a Chinese idiom, “bitter taste medicines are more effective”, bitter tastes comes into play. However, bitter placebo does not work for everyone because of cultural difference and taste preferences. Results from factorial ANOVA showed there was a significant interaction effect of the taste of the drink and the type of personality on cognitive test performance when it came to speakers of different languages: native English and non-native English speaking participants. Also, bitter placebo only works for supertasters who have experience of the aversion of bitterness and agree that bitter drinks can keep themselves healthy. Hence, supertaster participants who feel gross after tasting the bitter drink will persuade themselves the benefit of the placebo. For future studies, it should modify the methods with a self-rated scale of the placebo taste and a different placebo substance with a universal flavor for improvement.
| Published in | Psychology and Behavioral Sciences (Volume 5, Issue 4) |
| DOI | 10.11648/j.pbs.20160504.14 |
| Page(s) | 98-103 |
| Creative Commons |
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited. |
| Copyright |
Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group |
Placebo Effect, Supertaster, Non-supertaster, Bitterness, Taste Preferences, Cognitive Test
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APA Style
Scott L. Kemsley, Chi Man Leung, Suet Mui Ma, Samantha C. Lam, Boyd H. Timothy, et al. (2016). The Effects of Bitter Placebos on Cognitive Tests. Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, 5(4), 98-103. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.pbs.20160504.14
ACS Style
Scott L. Kemsley; Chi Man Leung; Suet Mui Ma; Samantha C. Lam; Boyd H. Timothy, et al. The Effects of Bitter Placebos on Cognitive Tests. Psychol. Behav. Sci. 2016, 5(4), 98-103. doi: 10.11648/j.pbs.20160504.14
AMA Style
Scott L. Kemsley, Chi Man Leung, Suet Mui Ma, Samantha C. Lam, Boyd H. Timothy, et al. The Effects of Bitter Placebos on Cognitive Tests. Psychol Behav Sci. 2016;5(4):98-103. doi: 10.11648/j.pbs.20160504.14
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Download@article{10.11648/j.pbs.20160504.14,
author = {Scott L. Kemsley and Chi Man Leung and Suet Mui Ma and Samantha C. Lam and Boyd H. Timothy and Ronald M. Miller},
title = {The Effects of Bitter Placebos on Cognitive Tests},
journal = {Psychology and Behavioral Sciences},
volume = {5},
number = {4},
pages = {98-103},
doi = {10.11648/j.pbs.20160504.14},
url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.pbs.20160504.14},
eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.pbs.20160504.14},
abstract = {Placebo effect has been applied in multiple aspects and the different components of placebo effect have already been studied in many different researches. Taste, which is one of the physiological effects, is a vital component of the placebo effect, and according to a Chinese idiom, “bitter taste medicines are more effective”, bitter tastes comes into play. However, bitter placebo does not work for everyone because of cultural difference and taste preferences. Results from factorial ANOVA showed there was a significant interaction effect of the taste of the drink and the type of personality on cognitive test performance when it came to speakers of different languages: native English and non-native English speaking participants. Also, bitter placebo only works for supertasters who have experience of the aversion of bitterness and agree that bitter drinks can keep themselves healthy. Hence, supertaster participants who feel gross after tasting the bitter drink will persuade themselves the benefit of the placebo. For future studies, it should modify the methods with a self-rated scale of the placebo taste and a different placebo substance with a universal flavor for improvement.},
year = {2016}
}
TY - JOUR T1 - The Effects of Bitter Placebos on Cognitive Tests AU - Scott L. Kemsley AU - Chi Man Leung AU - Suet Mui Ma AU - Samantha C. Lam AU - Boyd H. Timothy AU - Ronald M. Miller Y1 - 2016/07/07 PY - 2016 N1 - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.pbs.20160504.14 DO - 10.11648/j.pbs.20160504.14 T2 - Psychology and Behavioral Sciences JF - Psychology and Behavioral Sciences JO - Psychology and Behavioral Sciences SP - 98 EP - 103 PB - Science Publishing Group SN - 2328-7845 UR - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.pbs.20160504.14 AB - Placebo effect has been applied in multiple aspects and the different components of placebo effect have already been studied in many different researches. Taste, which is one of the physiological effects, is a vital component of the placebo effect, and according to a Chinese idiom, “bitter taste medicines are more effective”, bitter tastes comes into play. However, bitter placebo does not work for everyone because of cultural difference and taste preferences. Results from factorial ANOVA showed there was a significant interaction effect of the taste of the drink and the type of personality on cognitive test performance when it came to speakers of different languages: native English and non-native English speaking participants. Also, bitter placebo only works for supertasters who have experience of the aversion of bitterness and agree that bitter drinks can keep themselves healthy. Hence, supertaster participants who feel gross after tasting the bitter drink will persuade themselves the benefit of the placebo. For future studies, it should modify the methods with a self-rated scale of the placebo taste and a different placebo substance with a universal flavor for improvement. VL - 5 IS - 4 ER -
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