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Strong seduction: impulsivity and the impact of contextual cues on instrumental behavior in alcohol dependence.

ABSTRACT: Alcohol-related cues acquire incentive salience through Pavlovian conditioning and then can markedly affect instrumental behavior of alcohol-dependent patients to promote relapse. However, it is unclear whether similar effects occur with alcohol-unrelated cues. We tested 116 early-abstinent alcohol-dependent patients and 91 healthy controls who completed a delay discounting task to assess choice impulsivity, and a Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer (PIT) paradigm employing both alcohol-unrelated and alcohol-related stimuli. To modify instrumental choice behavior, we tiled the background of the computer screen either with conditioned stimuli (CS) previously generated by pairing abstract pictures with pictures indicating monetary gains or losses, or with pictures displaying alcohol or water beverages. CS paired to money gains and losses affected instrumental choices differently. This PIT effect was significantly more pronounced in patients compared to controls, and the group difference was mainly driven by highly impulsive patients. The PIT effect was particularly strong in trials in which the instrumental stimulus required inhibition of instrumental response behavior and the background CS was associated to monetary gains. Under that condition, patients performed inappropriate approach behavior, contrary to their previously formed behavioral intention. Surprisingly, the effect of alcohol and water pictures as background stimuli resembled that of aversive and appetitive CS, respectively. These findings suggest that positively valenced background CS can provoke dysfunctional instrumental approach behavior in impulsive alcohol-dependent patients. Consequently, in real life they might be easily seduced by environmental cues to engage in actions thwarting their long-term goals. Such behaviors may include, but are not limited to, approaching alcohol.

SUBMITTER: Sommer C

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5611726 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Strong seduction: impulsivity and the impact of contextual cues on instrumental behavior in alcohol dependence.

Sommer C C Garbusow M M Jünger E E Pooseh S S Bernhardt N N Birkenstock J J Schad D J DJ Jabs B B Glöckler T T Huys Q M QM Heinz A A Smolka M N MN Zimmermann U S US

Translational psychiatry 20170801 8

Alcohol-related cues acquire incentive salience through Pavlovian conditioning and then can markedly affect instrumental behavior of alcohol-dependent patients to promote relapse. However, it is unclear whether similar effects occur with alcohol-unrelated cues. We tested 116 early-abstinent alcohol-dependent patients and 91 healthy controls who completed a delay discounting task to assess choice impulsivity, and a Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer (PIT) paradigm employing both alcohol-unrelated ...[more]

PMID: 28763064

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Project description:The acquired motivational impact of conditioned stimuli has been studied using the Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer (PIT) task, where a cue paired with a reward is consistently shown to energize responses separately trained with that same reward ("specific" PIT). However, most alcohol studies have shown that alcohol-related cues elevate responses trained with either the same alcohol reward or with other non-alcoholic rewards ("general" PIT). The effects of extinction on this alcohol PIT effect have not been fully explored. We tested the hypothesis that cues signaling different-tasting alcohols might acquire specific craving reactions for those alcohols leading to specific PIT, but that these effects might be sensitive to extinction. Three experiments examined the specificity of PIT using alcohol and non-alcohol outcomes. Rats first consumed different-flavored alcohol solutions in their home cages. Then they were trained to perform two responses, each reinforced with distinctly flavored solutions, using a Polycose fading procedure. The outcomes were sweet (4% sucrose) or salty (0.9% NaCl) ethanol (10% v/v) solutions (Experiments 1 and 2) or one plain or salty alcohol vs. a non-alcoholic sweet solution (Experiment 3). Then, two cues were each differentially paired with these outcomes. In PIT tests, animals performed both responses in the presence and absence of these cues without any rewards. Experiments 1, 2, and 3 showed that a cue paired with a flavored alcohol produced a small but consistent bias toward the response trained with the same alcohol solution (specific PIT). Experiment 2 showed that extinction eliminated this effect. Experiment 3 demonstrated that specific PIT occurred when contrasting salty, or plain, alcohol to a non-alcoholic solution. These results provide evidence that alcohol-related stimuli can elicit craving for specific types of alcohol (as revealed by specific PIT), but that this effect is sensitive to extinction. This paradigm of contrasting two distinctly flavored alcohols may be an especially useful animal model of alcohol addiction.

Dataset Information

Strong seduction: impulsivity and the impact of contextual cues on instrumental behavior in alcohol dependence.

Publications

Strong seduction: impulsivity and the impact of contextual cues on instrumental behavior in alcohol dependence.

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