The Role of Self-Transcendence and Cognitive Processes in the Response Expectancy Effect.
Megan Fresson, Benoit Dardenne, Marie Geurten, Laury Anzaldi, Thierry Meulemans
Psychologica Belgica June 26, 2017 DOI: 10.5334/pb.364 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Experimental study Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 80 |
| Population | Healthy subjects |
| Measures | Judgement Of Learning (JOL) |
| Keywords | Monitoring Neuropsychology Nocebo Placebo Response expectancy Self-transcendence |
| Key findings | Negative instructions were associated with poorer flexibility but better memory scores, and positive instructions with better explicit monitoring (JOL) than neutral instructions. These effects were moderated by self-transcendence, appearing only in participants with moderate or high self-transcendence. The authors argue that response expectancy effects emerge from a combination of individual and cognitive factors. |
Abstract
Neuropsychological assessment is known to be influenced by expectancy effects, which can either enhance (placebo) or diminish (nocebo) cognitive performance. Research suggests that the response expectancy effect is influenced by various individual and situational factors and that the placebo effect results in an increase in monitoring processes as measured indirectly. However, the impact on monitoring processes has not yet been studied by direct measures such as Judgement Of Learning (JOL). This study aimed to investigate the response expectancy effect on various neuropsychological tasks, including a task that directly assesses monitoring capacities (JOL). In addition to determining which cognitive functions are influenced by the expectancy effect, this study examined the moderating role of the self-transcendence dimension of personality. Eighty healthy subjects were exposed to three bogus conditions presented as allegedly having a positive, negative, or no impact on cognitive capacities. Then they completed, in random order, three blocks of tasks (executive, attentional, and memory), one in each condition. Results showed an effect of negative instructions on flexibility (poorer performance) and memory (better performance) scores. Furthermore, positive instructions led to better explicit monitoring capacities (JOL) than the neutral condition. These effects were moderated by self-transcendence, as only participants with moderate or high self-transcendence exhibited these effects. Overall, our results showed that the response expectancy effect emerges from a combination of individual and cognitive factors.