Liking and wanting of drug and non-drug rewards in active cocaine users: the STRAP-R questionnaire

Abstract

Few studies have examined the subjective value attributed to drug rewards specifically as it compares with the value attributed to primary non-drug rewards in addicted individuals. The objective of this study is to assess ‘liking’ and ‘wanting’ of expected ‘drug’ rewards as compared to ‘food’ and ‘sex’ while respondents report about three different situations (‘current’, and hypothetical ‘in general’, and ‘under drug influence’). In all, 20 cocaine-addicted individuals (mean abstinence = 2 days) and 20 healthy control subjects were administered the STRAP-R (Sensitivity To Reinforcement of Addictive and other Primary Rewards) questionnaire after receiving an oral dose of the dopamine agonist methylphenidate (20 mg) or placebo. The reinforcers’ relative value changed within the addicted sample when reporting about the ‘under drug influence’ situation (drug > food; otherwise, drug < food). This change was highest in the addicted individuals with the youngest age of cocaine use onset. Moreover, ‘drug’ ‘wanting’ exceeded ‘drug’ ‘liking’ in the addicted subjects when reporting about this situation during methylphenidate. Thus, cocaine-addicted individuals assign the highest subjective valence to ‘drug’ rewards but only when recalling cue-related situations. When recalling this situation, they also report higher ‘drug’ ‘wanting’ than hedonic ‘liking’, a motivational shift that was only significant during methylphenidate. Together, these valence shifts may underlie compulsive stimulant abuse upon pharmacological or behavioural cue exposure in addicted individuals. Additional studies are required to assess the reliability of the STRAP-R in larger samples and to examine its validity in measuring the subjective value attributed to experienced reinforcers or in predicting behaviour.

Measuring wanting and liking from animals to humans: A systematic review

“…Basic research tested whether results from animal studies could be replicated in human studies by using brain imagining techniques (e.g., fMRI, PET; Born et al, 2011;Leyton et al, 2002), dopaminergic manipulations (e.g., dopaminiergic drug administration; Leyton et al, 2002Leyton et al, , 2005 or methods that are as similar as possible to the original animal studies (e.g., Pool et al, 2015b). More applied research explored whether the potential independence of wanting and liking might represent a mechanism underlying a variety of problematic behaviors such as excessive food consumption (e.g., Lemmens et al, 2011c), substance addiction (e.g., Goldstein et al, 2010) or behavioral addictions (e.g., gambling, excessive video game playing; Thalemann et al, 2007;Wölfling et al, 2011).…”

“…Several lines of research have subsequently been launched to investigate the effect of dopamine deregulation on motivation and hedonic pleasure for a particular reward (e.g., Brauer et al, 2001;Evans et al, 2006;Volkow et al, 1997), the role of wanting and liking in addictive behaviors (e.g., Goldstein et al, 2010;Tibboel et al, 2011;Wachtel et al, 2002), or the role of these two components in the normal processing of rewards related to different needs, such as offspring caretaking (with babies) or nourishment (with food) (e.g., Finlayson et al, 2007a;Parsons et al, 2011). This corpus of experiments provided evidence supporting the idea that the same processes found in rodents could potentially exist in humans.…”

“…Several researchers agree that the incentive salience hypothesis has important explanatory power in the understanding of various human behaviors, in particular problematic behavior such as overeating, addictive consumption of substances or pathological gambling (Finlayson et al, 2007b;Goldstein et al, 2010;Pool et al, 2015c;Wölfling et al, 2011). Nonetheless, results of studies investigating the incentive salience hypothesis with food reward in humans led to skeptical conclusions being drawn concerning the existence of wanting and liking as two distinct components with separate influences (Havermans, 2011(Havermans, ,2012.…”

Beyond cue reactivity: blunted brain responses to pleasant stimuli predict long‐term smoking abstinence

“…In addition to our current findings in smokers, blunted brain responses to natural rewards have been observed in functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and ERP studies of cocaine addicts (Dunning et al, 2011; Garavan et al, 2000) and alcoholics (Heinz et al, 2007). Furthermore, cocaine addicts (Goldstein et al, 2010), heroin addicts (de Arcos et al, 2008; Lubman et al, 2009), and alcoholics (de Arcos, Verdejo-Garcia, Peralta-Ramirez, Sanchez-Barrera, & Perez-Garcia, 2005) all report lower subjective ratings of pleasantness than non-addicts when exposed to rewarding cues. Thus, as predicted by theoretical models (Goldstein & Volkow, 2002; Koob & Volkow, 2010; Volkow et al, 2010), devaluation of natural rewards appears to be a consequence of substance addiction in general.…”

Sweets, Sex, or Self-Esteem? Comparing the Value of Self-Esteem Boosts with Other Pleasant Rewards

“…For this purpose, participants completed a Self-Esteem Trumps Other Pleasant Rewards modified version of the Sensitivity to Reinforcement of Addictive and Other Primary Rewards scale (Goldstein et al, 2010), originally designed to test preference for addictive drugs over other pleasant rewards. Participants in the current study were asked to think about their favorite food, sexual activity, and self-esteem-building experience (e.g., receiving a good grade, receiving a compliment from others).…”