Conditioned place preferences in humans using secondary reinforcers

Astur, Robert S.; Palmisano, Alexandra N.; Carew, Andrew W.; Deaton, Bonnie E.; Kuhney, Franchesca S.; Niezrecki, Rachel N.; Hudd, Ellie C.; Mendicino, Kelly L.; Ritter, Christopher J.

doi:10.1016/j.bbr.2015.09.042

Cited by 18 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…In particular, Astur and colleagues recently used a computerized CPP task to establish a preference for a virtual room associated with secondary reinforcers (i.e., points; [8]). As in that study, here we show that we can establish a CPP for a virtual room associated with a different secondary reinforcer, in this case money.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As in that study, here we show that we can establish a CPP for a virtual room associated with a different secondary reinforcer, in this case money. One difference to Astur’s study [8], is that we were able to establish a preference using a counterbalanced room assignment procedure i.e., the High Reward room was assigned randomly to subjects. In their study, Astur et al, established a CPP only when using a biased room assignment procedure i.e., the room associated with secondary reinforcers was the room that subjects spent least time in and liked the least at a pre-test before conditioning trials were conducted.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…They also showed that the strength of place preference was greater after food deprivation and greater in women who were dieting. Most recently, Astur and colleagues [8] extended their model to show that individuals exhibited a CPP for an environment associated with points, or secondary reinforcers with no intrinsic value. Finally, Radell et al [9] used a modified virtual reality CPP task with contingent delivery of secondary reinforcers (golden eggs) to show that individuals with a preference for familiarity over unpredictability exhibited a bias toward a room associated with a high probability of reward.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Virtual reality conditioned place preference using monetary reward

Childs

Astur

Wit

2017

Behavioural Brain Research

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Computerized tasks based on conditioned place preference (CPP) methodology offer the opportunity to study learning mechanisms involved in conditioned reward in humans. In this study, we examined acquisition and extinction of a CPP for virtual environments associated with monetary reward ($). Healthy men and women (N=57) completed a computerized CPP task in which they controlled an avatar within a virtual environment. On day 1, subjects completed 6 conditioning trials in which one room was paired with high $ and another with low $. Acquisition of place conditioning was assessed by measuring the time spent in each room during an exploration test of the virtual environments and using self-reported ratings of room liking and preference. Twenty-four hours later, retention and extinction of CPP were assessed during 4 successive exploration tests of the virtual environments. Participants exhibited a place preference for (spent significantly more time in) the virtual room paired with high $ over the one paired with low $ (p=0.015). They also reported that they preferred the high $ room (p<0.001) and liked it significantly more than the low $ room (p<0.001). However, these preferences were short-lived: 24h later subjects did not exhibit a behavioral or subjective preference for the high $ room. These findings show that individuals exhibit transient behavioral and subjective preferences for a virtual environment paired with monetary reward. Variations on this task may be useful to study mechanisms and brain substrates involved in conditioned reward and to examine the influence of drugs upon appetitive conditioning.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Virtual reality conditioned place preference using monetary reward

Childs

Astur

Wit

2017

Behavioural Brain Research

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“…Maladaptive memories between drug reward and contextual cues experienced during drug use are powerful and are a major cause of craving and relapse (Picciotto and Kenny, 2013; Fowler et al, 2011). Studying the contexts in which rewards have been experienced is paramount to understanding the basic neurobiology of learning, as well as how drugs such as nicotine “hijack” endogenous learning circuits to form long-lasting maladaptive changes that promote the risk of addiction (Napier et al, 2013; Dong and Nestler, 2014; Everitt and Robbins, 2016; Astur et al, 2016). …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To dissect the specific changes in dorsal-CA1 hippocampal activity dynamics that occur during the acquisition and expression of these nicotine reward-contextual associations, we used in vivo real time Ca 2+ imaging of CA1 pyramidal neurons expressing GCaMP6f during nicotine CPP in freely moving mice. We determined the role of dorsal-CA1 neuronal activity during nicotine CPP expression in response to the contextual information associated with the nicotine-reward as opposed to involvement in the subsequent instrumental or goal seeking component of reward-memory reactivation (Everitt and Robbins, 2016; Astur et al, 2016). These data demonstrate that CA1 neurons differentiate into ensembles associated with the transition into a reward-paired contextual memory, and provide evidence that nicotine engages unique CA1 neuronal ensembles to integrate highly salient reward information within spatial environments.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dorsal-CA1 Hippocampal Neuronal Ensembles Encode Nicotine-Reward Contextual Associations

Nygard

Sobczak

et al. 2017

Cell Reports

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Summary Natural and drug rewards increase the motivational valence of stimuli in the environment through Pavlovian learning mechanisms, becoming conditioned stimuli that directly motivate behavior in the absence of an original unconditioned stimulus. While the hippocampus has received extensive attention for its role in learning and memory processes, less is known regarding its role in drug-reward associations. We used in vivo Ca2+ imaging in freely moving mice during the formation of nicotine preference behavior to examine the role of the dorsal-CA1 region of the hippocampus in encoding contextual reward-seeking behavior. We show the development of specific neuronal ensembles whose activity encodes nicotine-reward contextual memories and which are necessary for the expression of place preference. Our findings increase our understanding of CA1 hippocampal function in general, and as it relates to reward processing by identifying a critical role for CA1 neuronal ensembles in nicotine place preference.

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