Neural correlates of instrumental responding in the context of alcohol-related cues index disorder severity and relapse risk
- The influence of Pavlovian conditioned stimuli on ongoing behavior may contribute to explaining how alcohol cues stimulate drug seeking and intake. Using a Pavlovian-instrumental transfer task, we investigated the effects of alcohol-related cues on approach behavior (i.e., instrumental response behavior) and its neural correlates, and related both to the relapse after detoxification in alcohol-dependent patients. Thirty-one recently detoxified alcohol-dependent patients and 24 healthy controls underwent instrumental training, where approach or non-approach towards initially neutral stimuli was reinforced by monetary incentives. Approach behavior was tested during extinction with either alcohol-related or neutral stimuli (as Pavlovian cues) presented in the background during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Patients were subsequently followed up for 6 months. We observed that alcohol-related background stimuli inhibited the approach behavior in detoxified alcohol-dependent patients (t = -3.86, p < .001), but not in healthyThe influence of Pavlovian conditioned stimuli on ongoing behavior may contribute to explaining how alcohol cues stimulate drug seeking and intake. Using a Pavlovian-instrumental transfer task, we investigated the effects of alcohol-related cues on approach behavior (i.e., instrumental response behavior) and its neural correlates, and related both to the relapse after detoxification in alcohol-dependent patients. Thirty-one recently detoxified alcohol-dependent patients and 24 healthy controls underwent instrumental training, where approach or non-approach towards initially neutral stimuli was reinforced by monetary incentives. Approach behavior was tested during extinction with either alcohol-related or neutral stimuli (as Pavlovian cues) presented in the background during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Patients were subsequently followed up for 6 months. We observed that alcohol-related background stimuli inhibited the approach behavior in detoxified alcohol-dependent patients (t = -3.86, p < .001), but not in healthy controls (t = -0.92, p = .36). This behavioral inhibition was associated with neural activation in the nucleus accumbens (NAcc) (t((30)) = 2.06, p < .05). Interestingly, both the effects were only present in subsequent abstainers, but not relapsers and in those with mild but not severe dependence. Our data show that alcohol-related cues can acquire inhibitory behavioral features typical of aversive stimuli despite being accompanied by a stronger NAcc activation, suggesting salience attribution. The fact that these findings are restricted to abstinence and milder illness suggests that they may be potential resilience factors.…
Author details: | Daniel SchadORCiDGND, Maria GarbusowORCiDGND, Eva Friedel, Christian SommerORCiD, Miriam SeboldORCiDGND, Claudia HägeleGND, Nadine BernhardtORCiD, Stephan NebeORCiD, Sören Kuitunen-PaulORCiDGND, Shuyan Liu, Uta Eichmann, Anne Beck, Hans-Ulrich WittchenORCiDGND, Henrik WalterORCiD, Philipp Sterzer, Ulrich S. Zimmermann, Michael N. SmolkaORCiDGND, Florian SchlagenhaufORCiDGND, Quentin J. M. HuysORCiD, Andreas HeinzORCiDGND, Michael A. RappORCiDGND |
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DOI: | https://doi.org/10.1007/s00406-017-0860-4 |
ISSN: | 0940-1334 |
ISSN: | 1433-8491 |
Pubmed ID: | https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29313106 |
Title of parent work (English): | European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience : official organ of the German Society for Biological Psychiatry |
Publisher: | Springer |
Place of publishing: | Heidelberg |
Publication type: | Article |
Language: | English |
Date of first publication: | 2018/01/08 |
Publication year: | 2018 |
Release date: | 2021/03/15 |
Tag: | Alcohol dependence; Human neuroimaging; Nucleus accumbens; Pavlovian-instrumental transfer; Relapse |
Volume: | 269 |
Issue: | 3 |
Number of pages: | 14 |
First page: | 295 |
Last Page: | 308 |
Funding institution: | German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG)German Research Foundation (DFG) [FOR 1617, HE 2597/13-1, HE 2597/13-2, HE 2597/14-1, HE 2597/14-2, HE 2597/15-1, HE 2597/15-2, RA 1047/2-1, RA 1047/2-2, SCHA 1971/1-2, SCHL 1969/2-1, SCHL 1969/2-2, SM 80/7-1, SM 80/7-2, WI 709/10-1, WI 709/10-2, ZI 1119/3-1, ZI 1119/3-2]; Charite-Universitatsmedizin; Berlin Institute of Health |
Organizational units: | Humanwissenschaftliche Fakultät / Strukturbereich Kognitionswissenschaften / Department Sport- und Gesundheitswissenschaften |
DDC classification: | 6 Technik, Medizin, angewandte Wissenschaften / 61 Medizin und Gesundheit / 610 Medizin und Gesundheit |
Peer review: | Referiert |