Pavlovian-to-Instrumental Transfer in Alcohol Dependence: A Pilot Study

Garbusow, Maria; Schad, Daniel J.; Sommer, Christian; Jünger, Elisabeth; Sebold, Miriam; Friedel, Eva; Wendt, Jean; Kathmann, Norbert; Schlagenhauf, Florian; Zimmermann, U.; Heinz, Andreas; Huys, Quentin J. M.; Rapp, Michael A.

doi:10.1159/000363507

Cited by 79 publications

(96 citation statements)

References 63 publications

(69 reference statements)

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“…These data combine to suggest that NAc core dopamine signaling is an important substrate for allows cues to motivate behavior, but only when this is adaptive. Because this motivational influence can be disrupted in the addicted state in both non-human, drug-exposure models (LeBlanc et al 2013, Leblanc et al 2013, Wyvell & Berridge 2001, Taylor & Jentsch 2001, Glasner et al 2005, Ostlund et al 2014) and in human addicts (Garbusow et al 2014, Martinovic et al 2014, Hogarth et al 2014), these results have implications for the understanding and treatment of addiction and other disorders of behavioral control.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nucleus accumbens core dopamine signaling tracks the need‐based motivational value of food‐paired cues

Aitken¹,

Greenfield²,

Wassum³

2016

Journal of Neurochemistry

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Environmental reward-predictive stimuli provide a major source of motivation for instrumental reward-seeking activity and this has been linked to dopamine signaling in the nucleus accumbens (NAc). This cue-induced incentive motivation can be quite general, not restricted to instrumental actions that earn the same unique reward, and is also typically regulated by one’s current need state, such that cues only motivate actions when this is adaptive. But it is unknown whether cue-evoked dopamine signaling is similarly regulated by need state. Here we used fast-scan cyclic voltammetry to monitor dopamine concentration changes in the NAc core of rats during a Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer (PIT) task in which the motivating influence of two cues, each signaling a distinct food reward (sucrose or food pellets), over an action earning a third unique food reward (grape-flavored polycose) was assessed in a state of hunger and of satiety. Both cues elicited a robust NAc dopamine response when hungry. The magnitude of the sucrose cue-evoked dopamine response correlated with the PIT effect that was selectively induced by this stimulus. Satiety attenuated these cue-evoked dopamine responses and behavioral responding, even though rats had never experienced the specific food rewards in this state. These data demonstrate that cue-evoked NAc core responses are sensitive to current need state, one critical variable that determines the current adaptive utility of cue-motivated behavior.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nucleus accumbens core dopamine signaling tracks the need‐based motivational value of food‐paired cues

Aitken¹,

Greenfield²,

Wassum³

2016

Journal of Neurochemistry

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“…It was presented on a computer screen (instrumental training, forced choice) and on a projector via a mirror system (Pavlovian training and PIT). For further details regarding the paradigm, see Garbusow et al (2014).…”

Section: Pit Paradigmmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer effects in the nucleus accumbens relate to relapse in alcohol dependence

et al. 2015

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In detoxified alcohol-dependent patients, alcohol-related stimuli can promote relapse. However, to date, the mechanisms by which contextual stimuli promote relapse have not been elucidated in detail. One hypothesis is that such contextual stimuli directly stimulate the motivation to drink via associated brain regions like the ventral striatum and thus promote alcohol seeking, intake and relapse. Pavlovian-to-Instrumental-Transfer (PIT) may be one of those behavioral phenomena contributing to relapse, capturing how Pavlovian conditioned (contextual) cues determine instrumental behavior (e.g. alcohol seeking and intake). We used a PIT paradigm during functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine the effects of classically conditioned Pavlovian stimuli on instrumental choices in n = 31 detoxified patients diagnosed with alcohol dependence and n = 24 healthy controls matched for age and gender. Patients were followed up over a period of 3 months. We observed that (1) there was a significant behavioral PIT effect for all participants, which was significantly more pronounced in alcohol-dependent patients; (2) PIT was significantly associated with blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) signals in the nucleus accumbens (NAcc) in subsequent relapsers only; and (3) PIT-related NAcc activation was associated with, and predictive of, critical outcomes (amount of alcohol intake and relapse during a 3 months follow-up period) in alcohol-dependent patients. These observations show for the first time that PIT-related BOLD signals, as a measure of the influence of Pavlovian cues on instrumental behavior, predict alcohol intake and relapse in alcohol dependence.

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“…Direct evidence that stimulus influences exemplified by transfer can contribute to maintaining unwanted actions, such as drug use, comes from recent reports that the strength of transfer effects may be an indicator of relapse risk (Garbusow et al 2014(Garbusow et al , 2015. In these studies, recently detoxified alcoholics showed a stronger transfer effect than healthy controls.…”

Section: Exposure To Drugs Of Abusementioning

confidence: 99%

Learning and Motivational Processes Contributing to Pavlovian–Instrumental Transfer and Their Neural Bases: Dopamine and Beyond

Corbit

Balleine

2015

Behavioral Neuroscience of Motivation

103

107

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Pavlovian stimuli exert a range of effects on behavior from simple conditioned reflexes, such as salivation, to altering the vigor and direction of instrumental actions. It is currently accepted that these distinct behavioral effects stem from two sources (i) the various associative connections between predictive stimuli and the component features of the events that these stimuli predict and (ii) the distinct motivational and cognitive functions served by cues, particularly their arousing and informational effects on the selection and performance of specific actions. Here, we describe studies that have assessed these latter phenomena using a paradigm that has come to be called Pavlovian-instrumental transfer. We focus first on behavioral experiments that have described distinct sources of stimulus control derived from the general affective and outcome-specific predictions of conditioned stimuli, referred to as general transfer and specific transfer, respectively. Subsequently, we describe research efforts attempting to establish the neural bases of these transfer effects, largely in the afferent and efferent connections of the nucleus accumbens (NAc) core and shell. Finally, we examine the role of predictive cues in examples of aberrant stimulus control associated with psychiatric disorders and addiction.

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Pavlovian-to-Instrumental Transfer in Alcohol Dependence: A Pilot Study

Cited by 79 publications

References 63 publications

Nucleus accumbens core dopamine signaling tracks the need‐based motivational value of food‐paired cues

Nucleus accumbens core dopamine signaling tracks the need‐based motivational value of food‐paired cues

Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer effects in the nucleus accumbens relate to relapse in alcohol dependence

Learning and Motivational Processes Contributing to Pavlovian–Instrumental Transfer and Their Neural Bases: Dopamine and Beyond

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