The brain draws on a range of pain-fighting options when people receive sham treatments for pain, a new brain-imaging study suggests.
People who experienced pain relief after receiving fake acupuncture treatments displayed pronounced activity in certain brain areas, says a team led by neuroscientist Jian Kong of Massachusetts General Hospital in Charlestown. This pattern of brain activity differed from that reported in 2004 by another team, directed by neuroscientist Tor D.
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