Dataset Information

An Adaptation of Pavlovian-to-Instrumental Transfer (PIT) Methodology to Examine the Energizing Effects of Reward-Predicting Cues on Behavior in Young Adults.

ABSTRACT: There is growing recognition that much of human behavior is governed by the presence of classically conditioned cues. The Pavlovian-to-Instrumental Transfer (PIT) paradigm offers a way to measure the effects of classically conditioned stimuli on behavior. In the current study, a novel behavioral task, an adaptation of the PIT framework, was developed for use in conjunction with an fMRI classical conditioning task. Twenty-four healthy young adults completed (1) instrumental training, (2) Pavlovian conditioning, and (3) a Transfer test. During instrumental training, participants learned to apply force to a handgrip to win money from slot machines pictured on a computer screen. During Pavlovian conditioning, slot machines appeared with one of two abstract symbols (cues), one symbol was predictive of monetary reward. During the Transfer test, participants again applied force to a handgrip to win money. This time, the slot machines were presented with the Pavlovian cues, but with the outcomes hidden. The results indicated increased effort on the instrumental task, i.e. higher response frequency and greater force, in the presence of the reward-predicting cue. Our findings add to the growing number of studies demonstrating PIT effects in humans. This new paradigm is effective in measuring the effects of a conditioned stimulus on behavioral activation.

SUBMITTER: da Costa RQM

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7034436 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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An Adaptation of Pavlovian-to-Instrumental Transfer (PIT) Methodology to Examine the Energizing Effects of Reward-Predicting Cues on Behavior in Young Adults.

da Costa Raquel Quimas Molina RQM Furukawa Emi E Hoefle Sebastian S Moll Jorge J Tripp Gail G Mattos Paulo P

Frontiers in psychology 20200214

There is growing recognition that much of human behavior is governed by the presence of classically conditioned cues. The Pavlovian-to-Instrumental Transfer (PIT) paradigm offers a way to measure the effects of classically conditioned stimuli on behavior. In the current study, a novel behavioral task, an adaptation of the PIT framework, was developed for use in conjunction with an fMRI classical conditioning task. Twenty-four healthy young adults completed (1) instrumental training, (2) Pavlovia ...[more]

PMID: 32116971

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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.

Project description:Threat conditioning is a common associative learning model with translational relevance. How threat-conditioned cues impact on formally unrelated instrumental behavior in humans is not well known. Such an effect is known as Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer (PIT). While PIT with aversive primary Pavlovian reinforcers is established in nonhuman animals, this is less clear in humans, where secondary reinforcers or instructed instrumental responses are most often investigated. We modified an existing human PIT procedure to include primary reinforcers. Participants first learned to obtain (or avoid losing) appetitive instrumental reinforcement (chocolate) by appropriate approach or avoidance actions. They either had to act (Go) or to withhold an action (NoGo), and in the Go condition either to approach a reward target to collect it or to withdraw from the reward target to avoid losing it. Then they learned to associate screen color (CS) with aversive Pavlovian reinforcement (electric shock US). In the transfer phase, we conducted the instrumental task during the presence of Pavlovian CS. In a first experiment, we show that the aversive Pavlovian CS+, compared to CS-, increased response rate in Go-Withdraw trials, i.e., induce conditioned facilitation of avoidance responses. This finding was confirmed in a second and independent experiment with an increased number of Go-Withdraw trials. Notably, we observed no appreciable conditioned suppression of approach responses. Effect size to distinguish CS+/CS- in Go-Withdraw trials was d = 0.42 in the confirmation sample. This would require n = 37 participants to demonstrate threat learning with 80% power. Thus, the effect size is on a practically useful scale although smaller than for model-based analysis of autonomic measures. In summary, our results indicate conditioned facilitation of formally unrelated instrumental avoidance behavior in humans and provide a novel behavioral threat learning measure that requires only key presses.

Dataset Information

An Adaptation of Pavlovian-to-Instrumental Transfer (PIT) Methodology to Examine the Energizing Effects of Reward-Predicting Cues on Behavior in Young Adults.

Publications

An Adaptation of Pavlovian-to-Instrumental Transfer (PIT) Methodology to Examine the Energizing Effects of Reward-Predicting Cues on Behavior in Young Adults.

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