The Perky Effect: Incorporation of an External Stimulus into an Imagery Experience under Placebo and Control Conditions

Abstract

Seventeen Ss were told to imagine six colored objects, successively, while facsimiles of the objects were flashed on a screen at increasing levels of intensity. Ten Ss received a placebo which was described as a relaxant. Ss' reported experiences were rated as perceptions of reality or as imagery. Control Ss had an increasing number of reality experiences as the intensity of the stimuli increased. Placebo Ss were relatively unaffected by the level of intensity of the stimulus. Instead the placebo seemed to polarize their reactions into reactors who tended to experience most of the stimuli as part of their imagery and the non-reactors, who tended to identify all six stimuli as perceptions.