Professor Christopher Beedie

Professor Christopher Beedie is an Honorary Professor and an affiliate of the Cognition and Neuroscience Research Group

Chris researches explicit and implicit self-regulatory processes such as emotion, mood, self-control and placebo effects. Having a background in sports science and physiology alongside psychology and neuroscience, he examines these processes from an interdisciplinary perspective. His current work is in collaboration with experts in anthropology, evolutionary biology, neuroscience and physiology. Their main research questions centre on when and how the brain and body respond positively to the mere suggestion of a performance-enhancing or psychoactive substance, even in the absence of any biologically active ingredients. 

Recent indicative publications

• Davis., A, Hettinga, F, & Beedie, C. (In Press). You don't need to administer a placebo to elicit a placebo effect: Social factors trigger neurobiological pathways to enhance sports performance. European Journal of Sports Sciences: special edition on placebo effects in sport & exercise
• Lindheimer, J., Szabo, A., Raglin, J., & Beedie, C. (In Press). Advancing the understanding of placebo effects in psychological outcomes of exercise lessons learned and future directions. European Journal of Sports Sciences: special edition on placebo effects in sport & exercise
• Hurst, P., Schiphof-Godart, L.; Hettinga, F., Roelands, B., & Beedie, C. (In Press). Caffeine and placebo effects improve pacing and performance during 1000-m running time-trials. International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance.
• Beedie, C. (In Press). Neurobiological mechanisms of placebo effects in exercise and mental health. Frontiers in Psychiatry.
• Beedie, C., Benedetti, F, Camerone, E., Barbiani, D., & Roelands, B (In Press). Moving beyond description: Towards a better understanding of physiological and neurobiological mechanisms of placebo effects in fatigue. European Journal of Sports Sciences: special edition on placebo effects in sport & exercise.
• Beedie. C., Benedetti, F. Barbiani, D., Camerone, E., Cohen, E., Coleman, D., Davis, A.; Edelsten, C., Flowers, E., Foad, A., Harvey, S., Hettinga, F., Hurst, P., Lane, A., Lindheimer, J., Raglin, J., Roelands, B., Schiphof-Godart, L.,  Szabo, A. (2018). Consensus statement on placebo effects in sports and exercise: The need for conceptual clarity, methodological rigour, and the elucidation of neurobiological mechanisms. European Journal of Sports Sciences.
• Harvey, S & Beedie, C (2017). Studying placebo effects in model organisms will help us understand them in humans. Biology Letters.
• Beedie, C. J., Whyte, G. P., Raglin, J. S., Lane, A. M., Cohen, E., Hurst, P., Coleman, D. C. and Foad, A. J. (2017). “Caution, this treatment is a placebo. It might work, but it might not”: Why emerging mechanistic evidence for placebo effects does not legitimize the use of complementary and alternative medicines in sport. British Journal of Sports Medicine.
• Hurst, P., Foad, A. J., Coleman, D., & Beedie, C. J. (2017). Intention to use sport supplements predicts placebo responding among athletes. Medicine & Science in Sport & Exercise.
• Hurst, P., Foad, A. J., Coleman, D., & Beedie, C. J. (2016). Development and Validation of the Sport Supplement Belief Scale. Performance Enhancement & Health http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.peh.2016.10.001
• Beedie, C. J., Foad, A. J., & Hurst, P. (2015). Capitalising on the placebo component of treatments. Current Sports Medicine Reports. 14(4):284-7. doi: 10.1249/JSR.0000000000000172