Guess

You may wonder why I was so sure the students had mistaken the slide and there was no specific syndrome called placebo-like effect.

In fact I was not.

But, to begin with, I merely applied a rule that I used since my days as medical student.

It says: If I have not heard of it, it does not exist.

I could hear you gasp, as well as your unspoken comment: How arrogant and histrionic!

Yes, I am - but not that far.

The fact is, this rule was designed for MCQ examination. You don't need to be encyclopedic and be absolutely certain that something does not exist if you have not heard of it - you only have to be knowledgeable to the extend that if you have not heard of a particular thing, the probability that this subject at hand does not exist is higher than that you are being ignorant on this particular matter.

In other words, if I put my money on the former and keep betting, I would expect a positive return.

I call it a calculated arrogance.

PS. Of course, I was not answering MCQ this time, and I had to go back to the reference and looked up the subject before I could be certain.