Electrophysiological responses to emotional and cocaine cues reveal individual neuroaffective profiles in cocaine users.

Abstract

Smokers with stronger neuroaffective responses to drug-related cues compared to nondrug-related pleasant images (C > P) are more vulnerable to compulsive smoking than individuals with the opposite brain reactivity profile (P > C). However, it is unknown if these neurobehavioral profiles exist in individuals abusing other drugs. We tested whether individuals with cocaine use disorder (CUD) show similar neuroaffective profiles to smokers. We also monitored eye movements to assess attentional bias toward cues and we further performed exploratory analyses on demographics, personality, and drug use between profiles. Participants with CUD (n = 43) viewed pleasant, unpleasant, cocaine, and neutral images while we recorded electroencephalogram. For each picture category, we computed the amplitude of the late positive potential (LPP), an event-related potential component that reflects motivational relevance. k-means clustering classified participants based on their LPP responses. In line with what has been observed in smokers, clustering participants using LPP responses revealed the presence of two groups: one with larger LPPs to pleasant images compared to cocaine images (P > C) and one group with larger LPPs to cocaine images compared to pleasant images (C > P). Individuals with the C > P reactivity profile also had higher attentional bias toward drug cues. The two groups did not differ on demographic and drug use characteristics, however individuals with the C > P profile reported lower distress tolerance, higher anhedonia, and higher posttraumatic stress symptoms compared to the P > C group. This is the first study to report the presence of these neuroaffective profiles in individuals with CUD, indicating that this pattern may cut across addiction populations. Public SignificanceOur findings suggest that heterogeneity in psychophysiological responses to cocaine-related and noncocaine-related emotional cues can be linked to behaviors associated with individual differences the tendency to attribute incentive salience to cues. Consideration of these psychophysiological individual differences during treatment may help clinicians tailor treatments and increase treatment success.

Neuroaffective profiles are associated with e-cigarette use

“…Preclinical findings 5 and our previous results 7,9,14 indicate that individual differences in the tendency to attribute motivational salience to cues predicting rewards are a transdiagnostic biomarker associated with vulnerability to cue-induced compulsive behaviors. This biomarker could be targeted to match existing treatments to the individuals most likely to benefit from them disorders characterized by cue-induced compulsive behaviors.…”

“…K -means cluster analysis is a multivariate classification procedure that, by minimizing within-group variability and maximizing between-group variability, groups individuals according to common features. On the basis of previous findings, 6,7,12 we hypothesized that the 2 groups will have the following characteristics: 1 group will be characterized by high reactivity to EC relative to pleasant stimuli (C>P) and the other will be characterized by low reactivity to EC relative to pleasant stimuli (P>C). We also expected that, irrespective of reactivity to EC, both groups would show larger LPP responses as a function of motivational relevance for both pleasant and unpleasant stimuli.…”

“…We proposed that individual differences in the tendency to attribute incentive salience to reward-related cues also underlie vulnerability to cue-induced drug seeking in humans. 6 Measuring brain responses to a wide array of emotional stimuli, we previously showed that individuals with larger neuroaffective responses to drug-related cues than to pleasant stimuli (C>P) have a stronger attentional bias towards drug-related cues 7 and, when trying to quit smoking, are more likely to relapse than individuals with larger neuroaffective responses to pleasant stimuli than to drug-related cues (P>C). 8–10 However, our previous studies did not directly link the C>P and P>C neuroaffective profiles to cue-induced drug self-administration.…”

“…6 In previous studies, we showed that multivariate classification algorithms identify two neuroaffective reactivity profiles: in one the LPPs to drug-related cues are higher than those evoked by non-drug-related pleasant images (C>P) and in the other the LPPs to non-drug-related pleasant images are higher than drug-related cues (P>C). 7,9,12…”

“…6 In previous studies, we showed that multivariate classification algorithms identify two neuroaffective reactivity profiles: in one the LPPs to drugrelated cues are higher than those evoked by non-drug-related pleasant images (C>P) and in the other the LPPs to non-drug-related pleasant images are higher than drug-related cues (P>C). 7,9,12 For this study, we hypothesized that a) we could identify C>P and P>C profiles in smokers by applying cluster analysis to the LPP responses from the cued nicotine delivery task and b) smokers characterized by the C>P profile would use the ENDS to self-administer nicotine significantly more often than those characterized by the P>C profile.…”