Reading Comprehension

Read the passage and answer the question.

The placebo effect describes how patients can feel better after taking a treatment that has no active ingredient, simply because they believe it will help. Researchers must account for this when testing new medicines, which is why some volunteers in a trial receive a harmless dummy pill. If the real drug does not work noticeably better than the dummy, it may not be effective. Interestingly, the placebo effect can be strong even when patients are told the pill is inactive, suggesting that the ritual of taking medicine itself plays a role in how people feel.