DiClementi, J D, Schmaling, K B, Jones, J F · Journal of psychosomatic research · 2001 · DOI
This study looked at how the brain processes information in people with ME/CFS compared to healthy people. Researchers found that people with ME/CFS reported more symptoms and were more easily influenced by suggestions, but they actually performed similarly to healthy people on memory and thinking tests. The findings suggest that how our brains automatically process information and respond to suggestions may affect how much people feel their thinking is impaired.
This research challenges assumptions that cognitive complaints in ME/CFS are purely due to objective deficits, suggesting instead that cognitive symptoms may be influenced by how the nervous system processes information and responds to suggestion. Understanding this mechanism could lead to targeted interventions and help explain why cognitive symptoms sometimes feel more severe than objective testing shows.
This study does not prove that ME/CFS cognitive symptoms are psychological or 'all in the head'—the differences in automatic processing and suggestibility are biological phenomena that warrant investigation. It does not establish causation; the relationship between suggestibility and symptoms could work in either direction. The small sample size and preliminary nature mean findings require replication before broader conclusions can be drawn.
About the PEM badge: “PEM required” means post-exertional malaise was an explicit required diagnostic criterion for participant inclusion in this study — not that PEM was studied, observed, or discussed. Studies using criteria that do not require PEM (e.g. Fukuda, Oxford) are tagged “PEM not required”. How the atlas works →
The first block is for the primary paper and is the citation you should use in research work. The atlas-snapshot line only applies if you are specifically referring to this atlas’s reading of the paper on the date shown.
Primary citation
DiClementi, J D, Schmaling, K B, & Jones, J F (2001). Information processing in chronic fatigue syndrome: a preliminary investigation of suggestibility.. Journal of psychosomatic research. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0022-3999(01)00284-7
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-diclementi-2001-information-processing,
author = {DiClementi, J D and Schmaling, K B and Jones, J F},
title = {Information processing in chronic fatigue syndrome: a preliminary investigation of suggestibility.},
journal = {Journal of psychosomatic research},
year = {2001},
doi = {10.1016/s0022-3999(01)00284-7},
note = {PubMed: 11728509},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/diclementi-2001-information-processing},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-26. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/diclementi-2001-information-processing
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