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Consumers can be a fickle bunch. If a product is extremely expensive, many people automatically assume it has to be better than a cheaper version of the same thing.

A new and provocative study suggests the link between price and perceived value is also at work in the medical field.

Patients reported more pain relief from a high-priced drug compared with a low-priced medication - even though both pills were, in reality, identical placebos.

"This is really a study about expectations," said one of the researchers, Dan Ariely, a behavioural economist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "What you expect to happen can change what you are actually experiencing."

The study involved 82 healthy volunteers who were divided into two groups. Half of them were given a brochure saying they would be testing a new, fast-acting pain medication that cost $2.50 a pill. The other half were given a similar brochure, but informed the price would be slashed to 10 cents. No reason was given for the price discount.

At the start of the study, the volunteers' pain tolerance was measured by applying a slight electrical shock to their wrists. Then the volunteers popped their pills and the pain test was repeated.

Although all pills were just placebos, 85 per cent of the volunteers who thought they were getting the more expensive drug said they experienced a reduction in pain.

By comparison, 61 per cent in the low-cost group said their pain was reduced.

Dr. Ariely noted that the "placebo effect" is well recognized in the medical community: Some patients will feel better if they think they are getting real medication. All new drugs are first tested against dummy pills to gauge their usefulness beyond the placebo effect.

But the new research demonstrates that market factors - such as price and product branding - can also have a big influence on patients' perception of a drug's effectiveness, said Dr. Ariely, who is author of the recently released book Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions.

What's more, the study, published as a research letter in the Journal of the American Medical Association, might help explain why some people still prefer to take a costly brand-name drug when a cheaper generic medication is available.

HEALING SOUNDS OF MUSIC

Listening to music for just a few hours each day could aid the recovery of people who have recently suffered from a stroke, a new study indicates.

Finnish researchers studied 60 patients who had had a common form of stroke that can affect movement, speech and other cognitive functions. The volunteers were divided into three groups: One listened to music for at least two hours a day, another heard books on tape, and a final group received neither audio therapy. All the patients also underwent standard rehabilitation treatment.

After three months, the music listeners, on average, experienced more improvement in their memory and attentions skills than patients in the two other groups. They were also in a better mood, according to the findings published in the journal Brain.

Teppo Sarkamo, a PhD student who led the research at the University of Helsinki, speculated that music might assist recovery by "directly stimulating the brain regions surrounding the damage area." Furthermore, by putting the patient in a better mood,

music could be triggering the release of dopamine - a chemical messenger that can enhance alertness and quicken information processing.

But is highbrow classical music any better than pop songs for stroke patients? Not necessarily, Mr. Sarkamo said in an e-mail interview. He noted the patients selected their own favourite tunes for the study. "It is the enjoyment of music that is crucial, not the type of music."

The results still need to

be confirmed by a larger study and the technique might not work for everyone, he cautioned.

TEST FOR MOOD DISORDERS

U.S. researchers have taken the first tentative steps toward the development of a blood test for diagnosing mood disorders.

Psychiatrists currently rely on their own impressions and the patient's self-reporting of symptoms.

"Patients aren't sure how ill they really are and neither is the clinician," explained the lead researcher, Alexander Niculescu, at Indiana University School of Medicine.

"Having an objective measure may speed up getting the appropriate attention and treatment."

For the study, the researchers examined blood samples from a group of patients previously diagnosed with bipolar disorder, also known as manic depression, which is characterized by major mood swings.

The team was able to identify chemical changes in the blood - so-called biomarkers - that reflected the activation of specific genes involved in different mental states, such as high, medium or low moods.

"A lot more work needs to be done" before this approach can be turned into a reliable test for bipolar disorder, acknowledged Dr. Niculescu, whose study was published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry.

Even so, he expects further research will eventually uncover blood biomarkers for a variety of mental disorders such a schizophrenia, post-traumatic stress disorder and postpartum depression.

"The exciting thing is that we made a breakthrough that suggests such work is feasible," he said.