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The placebo effect, or placebo response, is a psychobiological phenomenon that must not be confounded with other phenomena, such as spontaneous remission and statistical regression to the mean. The nocebo effect, or nocebo response, is a negative placebo effect, which goes in the opposite direction compared to the placebo effect. There are many placebo effects with different biological mechanisms and in different systems and apparatuses that are triggered by the psychosocial context around the patient and the therapy. Expectation of a future outcome plays a central role, and may act through different mechanisms, such as reduction in anxiety and activation of reward circuits. Learning plays a crucial role, and powerful placebo effects may be induced through a conditioning procedure. Placebo and placebo-related effects may be related to other self-regulatory processes and may have emerged during evolution as a defence mechanism of the body.

This chapter describes the putative neurobiological mechanisms of illusory contour perception in vertebrates and invertebrates. Different animal species with divergent and independently evolved visual systems perceive illusory contours. Animals of very different classes—such as owls and cats (Aves and Mammalia), and even very diverse phyla, like bees and monkeys (Arthropoda and Chordata)—perceive illusory contours. This is surprising, since the visual systems and pathways of these animals have evolved completely independently (in the case of insects and vertebrates) or at least largely independently (for instance, in birds and mammals) from each other. Clearly, there is a high selection pressure for animals of different taxa to see boundaries in the absence of contrast borders, and this constitutes an evolutionary advantage. Therefore, different species may have adopted convergent neural strategies to enable the perception of illusory contours.

This chapter evaluates the progress and impact of neuroeconomics, showing how models and data can be linked to provide mechanistic insights into a classical decision-making field. The focus is on the development and testing of models of the economic choice process and of neurobiological mechanisms themselves. Just what this approach generally contributes to understanding the questions addressed by economists is controversial, but there are arguments for the value of both an inspirational role that helps generate new mechanistic models and an enhanced ability to break process models into manageable pieces. The author emphasizes the importance of as if logic in classical utility maximization, arguing that this approach is vulnerable to uncertainties about how environmental conditions map to decision-making outcomes. The prevalence of these uncertainties makes a focus on neural mechanisms particularly useful. The last two sections of the chapter describe axiomatic modelling.

The placebo effect, or placebo response, is a psychobiological phenomenon that must not be confounded with other phenomena, such as spontaneous remission and statistical regression to the mean. The nocebo effect, or nocebo response, is a negative placebo effect, which goes in the opposite direction compared to the placebo effect. There are many placebo effects with different biological mechanisms and in different systems and apparatuses that are triggered by the psychosocial context around the patient and the therapy. Expectation of a future outcome plays a central role, and may act through different mechanisms, such as reduction in anxiety and activation of reward circuits. Learning plays a crucial role, and powerful placebo effects may be induced through a conditioning procedure. Placebo and placebo-related effects may be related to other self-regulatory processes and may have emerged during evolution as a defense mechanism of the body.

This chapter examines specific neuroendocrine pathways that may influence the positive social behaviors necessary for peace (where peace is defined as social safety within a society). This definition emphasizes the enabling power of social safety in promoting positive "states" associated with individuals interacting, socially connecting, and being mutually responsible for each other. Peptide pathways, including those reliant on oxytocin and vasopressin and their receptors, function as an integrated system mediating states of social safety. These endocrine and genetic pathways are at the center of a network that permitted the evolution of the human nervous system and allowed the expression of contemporary human sociality. Affiliation, pair bonds, and other forms of prosocial behaviors are not simply the absence of aggression. As reviewed here, we now understand that the prerequisites for peace, including prosocial behaviors and social safety, are built on active peptide systems. Knowledge of neurobiological mechanisms that form the foundations of social bonds and restorative behaviors offers a rational perspective for understanding, preventing, or intervening in the aftermath of adversity, and for enabling the emergence of peace in human societies. Published in the Strungmann Forum Reports Series.