@article{SekutowiczGuggenmosKuitunenPauletal.2019, author = {Sekutowicz, Maria and Guggenmos, Matthias and Kuitunen-Paul, S{\"o}ren and Garbusow, Maria and Sebold, Miriam and Pelz, Patricia and Priller, Josef and Wittchen, Hans-Ulrich and Smolka, Michael N. and Zimmermann, Ulrich S. and Heinz, Andreas and Sterzer, Philipp and Schmack, Katharina}, title = {Neural Response Patterns During Pavlovian-to-Instrumental Transfer Predict Alcohol Relapse and Young Adult Drinking}, series = {Biological psychiatry : a journal of psychiatric neuroscience and therapeutics ; a publication of the Society of Biological Psychiatry}, volume = {86}, journal = {Biological psychiatry : a journal of psychiatric neuroscience and therapeutics ; a publication of the Society of Biological Psychiatry}, number = {11}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {New York}, issn = {0006-3223}, doi = {10.1016/j.biopsych.2019.06.028}, pages = {857 -- 863}, year = {2019}, abstract = {BACKGROUND: Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer (PIT) describes the influence of conditioned stimuli on instrumental behaviors and is discussed as a key process underlying substance abuse. Here, we tested whether neural responses during alcohol-related PIT predict future relapse in alcohol-dependent patients and future drinking behavior in adolescents. METHODS: Recently detoxified alcohol-dependent patients (n = 52) and young adults without dependence (n = 136) underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging during an alcohol-related PIT paradigm, and their drinking behavior was assessed in a 12-month follow-up. To predict future drinking behavior from PIT activation patterns, we used a multivoxel classification scheme based on linear support vector machines. RESULTS: When training and testing the classification scheme in patients, PIT activation patterns predicted future relapse with 71.2\% accuracy. Feature selection revealed that classification was exclusively based on activation patterns in medial prefrontal cortex. To probe the generalizability of this functional magnetic resonance imaging-based prediction of future drinking behavior, we applied the support vector machine classifier that had been trained on patients to PIT functional magnetic resonance imaging data from adolescents. An analysis of cross-classification predictions revealed that those young social drinkers who were classified as abstainers showed a greater reduction in alcohol consumption at 12-month follow-up than those classified as relapsers (Delta = -24.4 +/- 6.0 g vs. -5.7 +/- 3.6 g; p = .019). CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that neural responses during PIT could constitute a generalized prognostic marker for future drinking behavior in established alcohol use disorder and in at-risk states.}, language = {en} } @article{SeboldNebeGarbusowetal.2017, author = {Sebold, Miriam and Nebe, Stephan and Garbusow, Maria and Guggenmos, Matthias and Schad, Daniel and Beck, Anne and Kuitunen-Paul, S{\"o}ren and Sommer, Christian and Frank, Robin and Neu, Peter and Zimmermann, Ulrich S. and Rapp, Michael A. and Smolka, Michael N. and Huys, Quentin J. M. and Schlagenhauf, Florian and Heinz, Andreas}, title = {When Habits Are Dangerous: Alcohol Expectancies and Habitual Decision Making Predict Relapse in Alcohol Dependence}, series = {Biological psychiatry : a journal of psychiatric neuroscience and therapeutics ; a publication of the Society of Biological Psychiatry}, volume = {82}, journal = {Biological psychiatry : a journal of psychiatric neuroscience and therapeutics ; a publication of the Society of Biological Psychiatry}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {New York}, issn = {0006-3223}, doi = {10.1016/j.biopsych.2017.04.019}, pages = {847 -- 856}, year = {2017}, abstract = {BACKGROUND: Addiction is supposedly characterized by a shift from goal-directed to habitual decision making, thus facilitating automatic drug intake. The two-step task allows distinguishing between these mechanisms by computationally modeling goal-directed and habitual behavior as model-based and model-free control. In addicted patients, decision making may also strongly depend upon drug-associated expectations. Therefore, we investigated model-based versus model-free decision making and its neural correlates as well as alcohol expectancies in alcohol-dependent patients and healthy controls and assessed treatment outcome in patients. METHODS: Ninety detoxified, medication-free, alcohol-dependent patients and 96 age-and gender-matched control subjects underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging during the two-step task. Alcohol expectancies were measured with the Alcohol Expectancy Questionnaire. Over a follow-up period of 48 weeks, 37 patients remained abstinent and 53 patients relapsed as indicated by the Alcohol Timeline Followback method. RESULTS: Patients who relapsed displayed reduced medial prefrontal cortex activation during model-based decision making. Furthermore, high alcohol expectancies were associated with low model-based control in relapsers, while the opposite was observed in abstainers and healthy control subjects. However, reduced model-based control per se was not associated with subsequent relapse. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that poor treatment outcome in alcohol dependence does not simply result from a shift from model-based to model-free control but is instead dependent on the interaction between high drug expectancies and low model-based decision making. Reduced model-based medial prefrontal cortex signatures in those who relapse point to a neural correlate of relapse risk. These observations suggest that therapeutic interventions should target subjective alcohol expectancies.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{SchadJuengerSeboldetal.2014, author = {Schad, Daniel and Juenger, Elisabeth and Sebold, Miriam and Garbusow, Maria and Bernhart, Nadine and Javadi, Amir Homayoun and Zimmermann, Ulrich S. and Smolka, Michael N. and Heinz, Andreas and Rapp, Michael A. and Huys, Quentin J. M.}, title = {Smart goals, slow habits? Individual differences in processing speed and working memory capacity moderate the balance between habitual and goal-directed choice behavior}, series = {Cognitive processing : international quarterly of cognitive science}, volume = {15}, booktitle = {Cognitive processing : international quarterly of cognitive science}, number = {1}, publisher = {Springer}, address = {Heidelberg}, issn = {1612-4782}, pages = {S62 -- S62}, year = {2014}, language = {en} } @article{GarbusowSchadSeboldetal.2016, author = {Garbusow, Maria and Schad, Daniel and Sebold, Miriam and Friedel, Eva and Bernhardt, Nadine and Koch, Stefan P. and Steinacher, Bruno and Kathmann, Norbert and Geurts, Dirk E. M. and Sommer, Christian and Mueller, Dirk K. and Nebe, Stephan and Paul, Soeren and Wittchen, Hans-Ulrich and Zimmermann, Ulrich S. and Walter, Henrik and Smolka, Michael N. and Sterzer, Philipp and Rapp, Michael A. and Huys, Quentin J. M. and Schlagenhauf, Florian and Heinz, Andreas}, title = {Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer effects in the nucleus accumbens relate to relapse in alcohol dependence}, series = {Addiction biology}, volume = {21}, journal = {Addiction biology}, publisher = {Wiley-Blackwell}, address = {Hoboken}, issn = {1355-6215}, doi = {10.1111/adb.12243}, pages = {719 -- 731}, year = {2016}, abstract = {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.}, language = {en} } @article{DeekenReichertZechetal.2022, author = {Deeken, Friederike and Reichert, Markus and Zech, Hilmar and Wenzel, Julia and Wedemeyer, Friederike and Aguilera, Alvaro and Aslan, Acelya and Bach, Patrick and Bahr, Nadja Samia and Ebrahimi, Claudia and Fischbach, Pascale Christine and Ganz, Marvin and Garbusow, Maria and Großkopf, Charlotte M. and Heigert, Marie and Hentschel, Angela and Karl, Damian and Pelz, Patricia and Pinger, Mathieu and Riemerschmid, Carlotta and Rosenthal, Annika and Steffen, Johannes and Strehle, Jens and Weiss,, Franziska and Wieder, Gesine and Wieland, Alfred and Zaiser, Judith and Zimmermann, Sina and Walter, Henrik and Lenz, Bernd and Deserno, Lorenz and Smolka, Michael N. and Liu, Shuyan and Ebner-Priemer, Ulrich Walter and Heinz, Andreas and Rapp, Michael A.}, title = {Patterns of Alcohol Consumption Among Individuals With Alcohol Use Disorder During the COVID-19 Pandemic and Lockdowns in Germany}, series = {JAMA Network Open}, volume = {5}, journal = {JAMA Network Open}, edition = {8}, publisher = {JAMA Network / American Medical Association}, address = {Chicago, Illinois, USA}, issn = {2574-3805}, doi = {10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.24641}, pages = {1 -- 11}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Importance Alcohol consumption (AC) leads to death and disability worldwide. Ongoing discussions on potential negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on AC need to be informed by real-world evidence. Objective To examine whether lockdown measures are associated with AC and consumption-related temporal and psychological within-person mechanisms. Design, Setting, and Participants This quantitative, intensive, longitudinal cohort study recruited 1743 participants from 3 sites from February 20, 2020, to February 28, 2021. Data were provided before and within the second lockdown of the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany: before lockdown (October 2 to November 1, 2020); light lockdown (November 2 to December 15, 2020); and hard lockdown (December 16, 2020, to February 28, 2021). Main Outcomes and Measures Daily ratings of AC (main outcome) captured during 3 lockdown phases (main variable) and temporal (weekends and holidays) and psychological (social isolation and drinking intention) correlates. Results Of the 1743 screened participants, 189 (119 [63.0\%] male; median [IQR] age, 37 [27.5-52.0] years) with at least 2 alcohol use disorder (AUD) criteria according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (Fifth Edition) yet without the need for medically supervised alcohol withdrawal were included. These individuals provided 14 694 smartphone ratings from October 2020 through February 2021. Multilevel modeling revealed significantly higher AC (grams of alcohol per day) on weekend days vs weekdays (β = 11.39; 95\% CI, 10.00-12.77; P < .001). Alcohol consumption was above the overall average on Christmas (β = 26.82; 95\% CI, 21.87-31.77; P < .001) and New Year's Eve (β = 66.88; 95\% CI, 59.22-74.54; P < .001). During the hard lockdown, perceived social isolation was significantly higher (β = 0.12; 95\% CI, 0.06-0.15; P < .001), but AC was significantly lower (β = -5.45; 95\% CI, -8.00 to -2.90; P = .001). Independent of lockdown, intention to drink less alcohol was associated with lower AC (β = -11.10; 95\% CI, -13.63 to -8.58; P < .001). Notably, differences in AC between weekend and weekdays decreased both during the hard lockdown (β = -6.14; 95\% CI, -9.96 to -2.31; P = .002) and in participants with severe AUD (β = -6.26; 95\% CI, -10.18 to -2.34; P = .002). Conclusions and Relevance This 5-month cohort study found no immediate negative associations of lockdown measures with overall AC. Rather, weekend-weekday and holiday AC patterns exceeded lockdown effects. Differences in AC between weekend days and weekdays evinced that weekend drinking cycles decreased as a function of AUD severity and lockdown measures, indicating a potential mechanism of losing and regaining control. This finding suggests that temporal patterns and drinking intention constitute promising targets for prevention and intervention, even in high-risk individuals.}, language = {en} } @article{ChenNebeMojtahedzadehetal.2020, author = {Chen, Hao and Nebe, Stephan and Mojtahedzadeh, Negin and Kuitunen-Paul, Soren and Garbusow, Maria and Schad, Daniel and Rapp, Michael A. and Huys, Quentin J. M. and Heinz, Andreas and Smolka, Michael N.}, title = {Susceptibility to interference between Pavlovian and instrumental control is associated with early hazardous alcohol use}, series = {Addiction biology}, volume = {26}, journal = {Addiction biology}, number = {4}, publisher = {Wiley}, address = {Hoboken}, issn = {1355-6215}, doi = {10.1111/adb.12983}, pages = {1 -- 14}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer (PIT) tasks examine the influence of Pavlovian stimuli on ongoing instrumental behaviour. Previous studies reported associations between a strong PIT effect, high-risk drinking and alcohol use disorder. This study investigated whether susceptibility to interference between Pavlovian and instrumental control is linked to risky alcohol use in a community sample of 18-year-old male adults. Participants (N = 191) were instructed to 'collect good shells' and 'leave bad shells' during the presentation of appetitive (monetary reward), aversive (monetary loss) or neutral Pavlovian stimuli. We compared instrumental error rates (ER) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) brain responses between the congruent and incongruent conditions, as well as among high-risk and low-risk drinking groups. On average, individuals showed a substantial PIT effect, that is, increased ER when Pavlovian cues and instrumental stimuli were in conflict compared with congruent trials. Neural PIT correlates were found in the ventral striatum and the dorsomedial and lateral prefrontal cortices (lPFC). Importantly, high-risk drinking was associated with a stronger behavioural PIT effect, a decreased lPFC response and an increased neural response in the ventral striatum on the trend level. Moreover, high-risk drinkers showed weaker connectivity from the ventral striatum to the lPFC during incongruent trials. Our study links interference during PIT to drinking behaviour in healthy, young adults. High-risk drinkers showed higher susceptibility to Pavlovian cues, especially when they conflicted with instrumental behaviour, indicating lower interference control abilities. Increased activity in the ventral striatum (bottom-up), decreased lPFC response (top-down), and their altered interplay may contribute to poor interference control in the high-risk drinkers.}, language = {en} } @misc{DeekenReichertZechetal., author = {Deeken, Friederike and Reichert, Markus and Zech, Hilmar and Wenzel, Julia and Wedemeyer, Friederike and Aguilera, Alvaro and Aslan, Acelya and Bach, Patrick and Bahr, Nadja Samia and Ebrahimi, Claudia and Fischbach, Pascale Christine and Ganz, Marvin and Garbusow, Maria and Großkopf, Charlotte M. and Heigert, Marie and Hentschel, Angela and Karl, Damian and Pelz, Patricia and Pinger, Mathieu and Riemerschmid, Carlotta and Rosenthal, Annika and Steffen, Johannes and Strehle, Jens and Weiss, Franziska and Wieder, Gesine and Wieland, Alfred and Zaiser, Judith and Zimmermann, Sina and Walter, Henrik and Lenz, Bernd and Deserno, Lorenz and Smolka, Michael N. and Liu, Shuyan and Ebner-Priemer, Ulrich Walter and Heinz, Andreas and Rapp, Michael A.}, title = {Patterns of Alcohol Consumption Among Individuals With Alcohol Use Disorder During the COVID-19 Pandemic and Lockdowns in Germany}, series = {Zweitver{\"o}ffentlichungen der Universit{\"a}t Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe}, journal = {Zweitver{\"o}ffentlichungen der Universit{\"a}t Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe}, number = {805}, issn = {1866-8364}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-57146}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-571460}, pages = {11}, abstract = {Importance Alcohol consumption (AC) leads to death and disability worldwide. Ongoing discussions on potential negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on AC need to be informed by real-world evidence. Objective To examine whether lockdown measures are associated with AC and consumption-related temporal and psychological within-person mechanisms. Design, Setting, and Participants This quantitative, intensive, longitudinal cohort study recruited 1743 participants from 3 sites from February 20, 2020, to February 28, 2021. Data were provided before and within the second lockdown of the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany: before lockdown (October 2 to November 1, 2020); light lockdown (November 2 to December 15, 2020); and hard lockdown (December 16, 2020, to February 28, 2021). Main Outcomes and Measures Daily ratings of AC (main outcome) captured during 3 lockdown phases (main variable) and temporal (weekends and holidays) and psychological (social isolation and drinking intention) correlates. Results Of the 1743 screened participants, 189 (119 [63.0\%] male; median [IQR] age, 37 [27.5-52.0] years) with at least 2 alcohol use disorder (AUD) criteria according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (Fifth Edition) yet without the need for medically supervised alcohol withdrawal were included. These individuals provided 14 694 smartphone ratings from October 2020 through February 2021. Multilevel modeling revealed significantly higher AC (grams of alcohol per day) on weekend days vs weekdays (β = 11.39; 95\% CI, 10.00-12.77; P < .001). Alcohol consumption was above the overall average on Christmas (β = 26.82; 95\% CI, 21.87-31.77; P < .001) and New Year's Eve (β = 66.88; 95\% CI, 59.22-74.54; P < .001). During the hard lockdown, perceived social isolation was significantly higher (β = 0.12; 95\% CI, 0.06-0.15; P < .001), but AC was significantly lower (β = -5.45; 95\% CI, -8.00 to -2.90; P = .001). Independent of lockdown, intention to drink less alcohol was associated with lower AC (β = -11.10; 95\% CI, -13.63 to -8.58; P < .001). Notably, differences in AC between weekend and weekdays decreased both during the hard lockdown (β = -6.14; 95\% CI, -9.96 to -2.31; P = .002) and in participants with severe AUD (β = -6.26; 95\% CI, -10.18 to -2.34; P = .002). Conclusions and Relevance This 5-month cohort study found no immediate negative associations of lockdown measures with overall AC. Rather, weekend-weekday and holiday AC patterns exceeded lockdown effects. Differences in AC between weekend days and weekdays evinced that weekend drinking cycles decreased as a function of AUD severity and lockdown measures, indicating a potential mechanism of losing and regaining control. This finding suggests that temporal patterns and drinking intention constitute promising targets for prevention and intervention, even in high-risk individuals.}, language = {en} } @misc{ChenNebeMojtahedzadehetal.2020, author = {Chen, Hao and Nebe, Stephan and Mojtahedzadeh, Negin and Kuitunen-Paul, Soren and Garbusow, Maria and Schad, Daniel and Rapp, Michael A. and Huys, Quentin J. M. and Heinz, Andreas and Smolka, Michael N.}, title = {Susceptibility to interference between Pavlovian and instrumental control is associated with early hazardous alcohol use}, series = {Zweitver{\"o}ffentlichungen der Universit{\"a}t Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe}, journal = {Zweitver{\"o}ffentlichungen der Universit{\"a}t Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe}, number = {4}, issn = {1866-8364}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-56960}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-569609}, pages = {16}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer (PIT) tasks examine the influence of Pavlovian stimuli on ongoing instrumental behaviour. Previous studies reported associations between a strong PIT effect, high-risk drinking and alcohol use disorder. This study investigated whether susceptibility to interference between Pavlovian and instrumental control is linked to risky alcohol use in a community sample of 18-year-old male adults. Participants (N = 191) were instructed to 'collect good shells' and 'leave bad shells' during the presentation of appetitive (monetary reward), aversive (monetary loss) or neutral Pavlovian stimuli. We compared instrumental error rates (ER) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) brain responses between the congruent and incongruent conditions, as well as among high-risk and low-risk drinking groups. On average, individuals showed a substantial PIT effect, that is, increased ER when Pavlovian cues and instrumental stimuli were in conflict compared with congruent trials. Neural PIT correlates were found in the ventral striatum and the dorsomedial and lateral prefrontal cortices (lPFC). Importantly, high-risk drinking was associated with a stronger behavioural PIT effect, a decreased lPFC response and an increased neural response in the ventral striatum on the trend level. Moreover, high-risk drinkers showed weaker connectivity from the ventral striatum to the lPFC during incongruent trials. Our study links interference during PIT to drinking behaviour in healthy, young adults. High-risk drinkers showed higher susceptibility to Pavlovian cues, especially when they conflicted with instrumental behaviour, indicating lower interference control abilities. Increased activity in the ventral striatum (bottom-up), decreased lPFC response (top-down), and their altered interplay may contribute to poor interference control in the high-risk drinkers.}, language = {en} } @misc{GarbusowNebeSommeretal.2019, author = {Garbusow, Maria and Nebe, Stephan and Sommer, Christian and Kuitunen-Paul, S{\"o}ren and Sebold, Miriam and Schad, Daniel and Friedel, Eva and Veer, Ilya M. and Wittchen, Hans-Ulrich and Rapp, Michael A. and Ripke, Stephan and Walter, Henrik and Huys, Quentin J. M. and Schlagenhauf, Florian and Smolka, Michael N. and Heinz, Andreas}, title = {Pavlovian-To-Instrumental Transfer and Alcohol Consumption in Young Male Social Drinkers}, series = {Zweitver{\"o}ffentlichungen der Universit{\"a}t Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe}, journal = {Zweitver{\"o}ffentlichungen der Universit{\"a}t Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe}, number = {841}, issn = {1866-8364}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-47328}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-473280}, pages = {14}, year = {2019}, abstract = {In animals and humans, behavior can be influenced by irrelevant stimuli, a phenomenon called Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer (PIT). In subjects with substance use disorder, PIT is even enhanced with functional activation in the nucleus accumbens (NAcc) and amygdala. While we observed enhanced behavioral and neural PIT effects in alcohol-dependent subjects, we here aimed to determine whether behavioral PIT is enhanced in young men with high-risk compared to low-risk drinking and subsequently related functional activation in an a-priori region of interest encompassing the NAcc and amygdala and related to polygenic risk for alcohol consumption. A representative sample of 18-year old men (n = 1937) was contacted: 445 were screened, 209 assessed: resulting in 191 valid behavioral, 139 imaging and 157 genetic datasets. None of the subjects fulfilled criteria for alcohol dependence according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-IV-TextRevision (DSM-IV-TR). We measured how instrumental responding for rewards was influenced by background Pavlovian conditioned stimuli predicting action-independent rewards and losses. Behavioral PIT was enhanced in high-compared to low-risk drinkers (b = 0.09, SE = 0.03, z = 2.7, p < 0.009). Across all subjects, we observed PIT-related neural blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) signal in the right amygdala (t = 3.25, p(SVC) = 0.04, x = 26, y = -6, z = -12), but not in NAcc. The strength of the behavioral PIT effect was positively correlated with polygenic risk for alcohol consumption (r(s) = 0.17, p = 0.032). We conclude that behavioral PIT and polygenic risk for alcohol consumption might be a biomarker for a subclinical phenotype of risky alcohol consumption, even if no drug-related stimulus is present. The association between behavioral PIT effects and the amygdala might point to habitual processes related to out PIT task. In non-dependent young social drinkers, the amygdala rather than the NAcc is activated during PIT; possible different involvement in association with disease trajectory should be investigated in future studies.}, language = {en} } @article{GarbusowSchadSommeretal.2014, author = {Garbusow, Maria and Schad, Daniel and Sommer, Christian and Juenger, Elisabeth and Sebold, Miriam and Friedel, Eva and Wendt, Jean and Kathmann, Norbert and Schlagenhauf, Florian and Zimmermann, Ulrich S. and Heinz, Andreas and Huys, Quentin J. M. and Rapp, Michael A.}, title = {Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer in alcohol dependence: a pilot study}, series = {Neuropsychobiology : international journal of experimental and clinical research in biological psychiatry, pharmacopsychiatry, Biological Psychology/Pharmacopsychology and Pharmacoelectroencephalography}, volume = {70}, journal = {Neuropsychobiology : international journal of experimental and clinical research in biological psychiatry, pharmacopsychiatry, Biological Psychology/Pharmacopsychology and Pharmacoelectroencephalography}, number = {2}, publisher = {Karger}, address = {Basel}, issn = {0302-282X}, doi = {10.1159/000363507}, pages = {111 -- 121}, year = {2014}, abstract = {Background: Pavlovian processes are thought to play an important role in the development, maintenance and relapse of alcohol dependence, possibly by influencing and usurping ongoing thought and behavior. The influence of pavlovian stimuli on ongoing behavior is paradigmatically measured by pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer (PIT) tasks. These involve multiple stages and are complex. Whether increased PIT is involved in human alcohol dependence is uncertain. We therefore aimed to establish and validate a modified PIT paradigm that would be robust, consistent and tolerated by healthy controls as well as by patients suffering from alcohol dependence, and to explore whether alcohol dependence is associated with enhanced PIT. Methods: Thirty-two recently detoxified alcohol-dependent patients and 32 age- and gender-matched healthy controls performed a PIT task with instrumental go/no-go approach behaviors. The task involved both pavlovian stimuli associated with monetary rewards and losses, and images of drinks. Results: Both patients and healthy controls showed a robust and temporally stable PIT effect. Strengths of PIT effects to drug-related and monetary conditioned stimuli were highly correlated. Patients more frequently showed a PIT effect, and the effect was stronger in response to aversively conditioned CSs (conditioned suppression), but there was no group difference in response to appetitive CSs. Conclusion: The implementation of PIT has favorably robust properties in chronic alcohol-dependent patients and in healthy controls. It shows internal consistency between monetary and drug-related cues. The findings support an association of alcohol dependence with an increased propensity towards PIT.}, language = {en} }