Stress-induced reliance on habitual behavior is moderated by cortisol reactivity

Abstract

Instrumental learning, i.e., learning that specific behaviors lead to desired outcomes, occurs through goal-directed and habit memory systems. Exposure to acute stress has been shown to result in less goal-directed control, thus rendering behavior more habitual. The aim of the current studies was to replicate and extend findings on stress-induced prompting of habitual responding and specifically focused on the role of stress-induced cortisol reactivity. Study 1 used an established outcome devaluation paradigm to assess goal-directed and habitual control. Study 2 utilized a modified version of this paradigm that was intended to establish stronger habitual responding through more extensive reward training and applying a relevant behavioral devaluation procedure (i.e., eating to satiety). Both studies failed to replicate that stress overall, i.e., independent of cortisol reactivity, shifted behavior from goal-directed to habitual control. However, both studies found that relative to stress-exposed cortisol non-responders and no-stress controls, participants displaying stress-induced cortisol reactivity displayed prominent habitual responding. These findings highlight the importance of stress-induced cortisol reactivity in facilitating habits.

Measuring habit formation through goal-directed response switching.

“…For instance, neuropsychological research has identified certain neural systems that appear to be relatively insensitive to changes in the current reward-value of an outcome, with the activity of these systems relating to the frequency of participants' overt selections of responses that yield now-devalued outcomes (Liljeholm, Dunne, & O'Doherty, 2015;Schwabe, Tegenthoff, Höffken, & Wolf, 2012;Soares et al, 2012;Tricomi et al, 2009; for a review, see Patterson & Knowlton, 2018). Research in this tradition also suggests that humans show more habitual responses when the goal-directed system is hindered (for example, by manipulations designed to produce ‗ego-depletion', Lin, Wood, & Monterosso, 2016); on related lines, it has also been suggested that acute stress can tilt the balance in favor of the habit system (Schwabe & Wolf, 2009;Smeets, van Ruitenbeek, Hartogsveld, & Quaedflieg, 2018)a result which mirrors findings from animal research (Braun & Hauber, 2013).…”

Dopaminergic modulation of stress-induced alterations in goal-directed behaviour and associated brain activation

“…A four-stage instrumental learning task divided over two days was used to assess goal-directed and habitual behaviour (Smeets et al, 2019, see figure 1 panel A). Participants learned six Stimulus-Response-Outcome (S-R-O) associations by trial-and-error on day one (stage 1).…”

“…Stress plays an important role in the development and maintenance of addictive behaviours (Brewer, Catalano, Haggerty, Gainey, & Fleming, 1998;Sinha, 2001;Sinha & Jastreboff, 2013). Particularly the hypothesis of stress-induced relapse within the context of instrumental learning has received substantial attention (Sinha, 2001), and the frequent observation that stress renders behaviour habitual (Quaedflieg, Stoffregen, Sebalo, & Smeets, 2019;Schwabe, Wolf, & Oitzl, 2010;Smeets, van Ruitenbeek, Hartogsveld, & Quaedflieg, 2019) provides a potential mechanism (see Schwabe & Wolf, 2011 for review).…”

“…This behavioural shift is supported by neuroimaging data of addicts showing increased activation of brain networks underlying habitual behaviour, and decreased activation of brain networks underlying goaldirected behaviour compared with healthy controls (Belin, Belin-Rauscent, Murray, & Everitt, 2013;Vollstadt-Klein et al, 2010). Additionally, stress has been observed to induce a similar change in network activation (Schwabe, 2017;Schwabe, Tegenthoff, Hoffken, & Wolf, 2012), and stress-induced cortisol elevations are associated with a shift from goal-directed to habitual behaviour (Smeets et al, 2019).…”

“…The present study aimed to unravel the effects of acute stress and dopamine manipulation on goal-directed behaviour and its neuronal correlates. One-hundred healthy participants underwent a stress induction protocol (Smeets et al, 2019) and/or received 40mg oral methylphenidate (MPH) to increase synaptic dopamine levels before performing an instrumental learning task to assess goaldirected behaviour. It was hypothesised that stress decreases goal-directed behaviour in an instrumental learning task and that increased dopamine levels may reverse this stress-induced effect on instrumental behaviour and associated brain activation.…”