Drug cue induced overshadowing: selective disruption of natural reward processing by cigarette cues amongst abstinent but not satiated smokers

2011 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 161-171 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. P. Freeman ◽  
C. J. A. Morgan ◽  
T. Beesley ◽  
H. V. Curran
Keyword(s):  
Associative Learning ◽  
Attentional Bias ◽  
Prediction Error ◽  
Learning Task ◽  
Reward Processing ◽  
Financial Reward ◽  
Drug Cues ◽  
Reward Value ◽  
Drug Dependent ◽  
Drug Cue

BackgroundAddicts show both reward processing deficits and increased salience attribution to drug cues. However, no study to date has demonstrated that salience attribution to drug cues can directly modulate inferences of reward value to non-drug cues. Associative learning depends on salience: a more salient predictor of an outcome will ‘overshadow’ a less salient predictor of the same outcome. Similarly, blocking, a demonstration that learning depends on prediction error, can be influenced by the salience of the cues employed.MethodThis study investigated whether salient drug cues might interact with neutral cues predicting financial reward in an associative learning task indexing blocking and overshadowing in satiated smokers (n=24), abstaining smokers (n=24) and non-smoking controls (n=24). Attentional bias towards drug cues, craving and expired CO were also indexed.ResultsAbstaining smokers showed drug cue induced overshadowing, attributing higher reward value to drug cues than to neutral cues that were equally predictive of reward. Overshadowing was positively correlated with expired CO levels, which, in turn, were correlated with craving in abstainers. An automatic attentional bias towards cigarette cues was found in abstainers only.ConclusionsThese findings provide the first evidence that drug cues interact with reward processing in a drug dependent population.

Decreased drug-cue-induced attentional bias in individuals with treated and untreated drug dependence

2009 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 179-185 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simona Gardini ◽  
Paolo Caffarra ◽  
Annalena Venneri
Keyword(s):  
Attentional Bias ◽  
Active Drug ◽  
Response Times ◽  
Emotional Stroop ◽  
Substitution Therapy ◽  
Opioid Substitution Therapy ◽  
Drug Cues ◽  
Multiple Variables ◽  
Drug Dependent ◽  
Opioid Substitution

Objective:The present study investigated the attentional bias induced by drug-related stimuli in active abusers; abstinent abusers on opioid substitution therapy; and abstinent drug-dependent patients in recovery on a community-based non-pharmacological therapy programme. Drug-dependent groups included both cocaine and heroin abusers.Methods:Classical and emotional Stroop tasks were used to test all drug-dependent patients and controls with no history of addiction. Response times were recorded. An interference effect was obtained by comparing the congruent and incongruent conditions in the classical Stroop version. An attentional bias towards drug cues was derived by comparing latencies in the neutral and emotional conditions of the emotional Stroop.Results:No between-group differences were found in the classical Stroop. In the emotional Stroop, active drug-dependent patients showed higher attentional bias (i.e. longer response times to drug-related words) than any of the other three groups.Conclusion:The attentional bias induced by drug cues in patients with addiction disorder might change depending on the patients' clinical status. All treated patients, whether on opioid substitution therapy or on community therapy, showed less attentional bias towards drug-related stimuli than active drug users, although the observed smaller bias was most likely induced by therapy acting through different mechanisms. Although drug-cues response is influenced by other multiple variables, e.g. motivation, craving, classical conditioning and substance availability, these data lend support to the hypothesis that treatment might contribute to decrease the attentional bias towards drug cues, which seems to play a critical role in achieving a positive outcome in the treatment of addiction.

scholarly journals Testing the automaticity of an attentional bias towards predictive cues in human associative learning

2020 ◽  
Vol 73 (5) ◽  
pp. 762-780
Author(s):  
David Luque ◽  
Sara Molinero ◽  
Mina Jevtović ◽  
Tom Beesley
Keyword(s):  
Associative Learning ◽  
Attentional Bias ◽  
Response Times ◽  
Learning Task ◽  
Error Rates ◽  
Dot Probe ◽  
Task Goal ◽  
Probe Task ◽  
Controlled Attention ◽  
Accuracy Data

It is well established that associative learning, such as learning new cue–outcome pairings, produces changes in attention: cues that are good predictors of relevant outcomes become prioritised compared with those that are non-predictive or redundant. However, there is controversy about whether such a learnt attentional bias results from a controlled orientation of attention, or whether it can be involuntary in nature. In three experiments, participants learned that cues of certain colours were predictive or non-predictive, and we assessed attention to cues using a dot-probe task. On dot-probe trials, participants were instructed to control attention by orienting towards a cue of a certain shape (target), while trying to ignore another cue (distractor). Although the colours of the cues were critical for the associative learning task, they were irrelevant for the dot-probe task. The results show that, even though participants’ controlled attention was focused on the target shape (as evident in response times and accuracy data), response times to the probe were slower (Experiments 1 and 2) and error rates were higher (Experiments 2 and 3) when the distractor was of a (previously) predictive colour. These data suggest that attention was captured involuntarily by the predictive value of the distractor, despite this being counterproductive to the task goal.

scholarly journals Adolescents Adapt More Slowly than Adults to Varying Reward Contingencies

2014 ◽  
Vol 26 (12) ◽  
pp. 2670-2681 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amir Homayoun Javadi ◽  
Dirk H. K. Schmidt ◽  
Michael N. Smolka
Keyword(s):  
Adaptive Learning ◽  
Prediction Error ◽  
Learning Task ◽  
Expected Value ◽  
Reward Processing ◽  
Learning Rate ◽  
Current State ◽  
Adolescents And Adults ◽  
Reward Contingencies ◽  
Age Range

It has been suggested that adolescents process rewards differently from adults, both cognitively and affectively. In an fMRI study we recorded brain BOLD activity of adolescents (age range = 14–15 years) and adults (age range = 20–39 years) to investigate the developmental changes in reward processing and decision-making. In a probabilistic reversal learning task, adolescents and adults adapted to changes in reward contingencies. We used a reinforcement learning model with an adaptive learning rate for each trial to model the adolescents' and adults' behavior. Results showed that adolescents possessed a shallower slope in the sigmoid curve governing the relation between expected value (the value of the expected feedback, +1 and −1 representing rewarding and punishing feedback, respectively) and probability of stay (selecting the same option as in the previous trial). Trial-by-trial change in expected values after being correct or wrong was significantly different between adolescents and adults. These values were closer to certainty for adults. Additionally, absolute value of model-derived prediction error for adolescents was significantly higher after a correct response but a punishing feedback. At the neural level, BOLD correlates of learning rate, expected value, and prediction error did not significantly differ between adolescents and adults. Nor did we see group differences in the prediction error-related BOLD signal for different trial types. Our results indicate that adults seem to behaviorally integrate punishing feedback better than adolescents in their estimation of the current state of the contingencies. On the basis of these results, we argue that adolescents made decisions with less certainty when compared with adults and speculate that adolescents acquired a less accurate knowledge of their current state, that is, of being correct or wrong.

scholarly journals Pleasure, reward value and prediction error in anhedonia

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karel Kieslich ◽  
Vincent Valton ◽  
Jonathan Paul Roiser
Keyword(s):  
Prediction Error ◽  
Reward Processing ◽  
Case Control Studies ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Reward Prediction Error ◽  
Future Studies ◽  
Reward Prediction ◽  
Reward Value ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Reward Valuation

In order to develop effective treatments for anhedonia we need to understand its underlying neurobiological mechanisms. Anhedonia is conceptually strongly linked to reward processing, which involves a variety of cognitive and neural operations. This article reviews the evidence for impairments in experiencing hedonic response (pleasure), reward valuation, and reward learning based on outcomes (commonly conceptualised in terms of “reward prediction error”). Synthesizing behavioural and neuroimaging findings, we examine case-control studies of patients with depression and schizophrenia, including those focusing specifically on anhedonia. Overall, there is reliable evidence that depression and schizophrenia are associated with disrupted reward processing. In contrast to the historical definition of anhedonia, there is surprisingly limited evidence for impairment in the ability to experience pleasure in depression and schizophrenia. There is some evidence that learning about reward and reward prediction error signals are impaired in depression and schizophrenia, but the literature is inconsistent. The strongest evidence is for impairments in the representation of reward value and how this is used to guide action. Future studies would benefit from focusing on impairments in reward processing specifically in anhedonic samples, including transdiagnostically, and from using designs separating different components of reward processing, formulating them in computational terms, and moving beyond cross-sectional designs to provide an assessment of causality.

Blocking Is Sensitive to Causal Structure in 4-Year-Old and 8-Year-Old Children

2005 ◽  
Vol 52 (4) ◽  
pp. 264-271 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tom Beckers ◽  
Uschi Van den Broeck ◽  
Marij Renne ◽  
Stefaan Vandorpe ◽  
Jan De Houwer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Young Children ◽  
Associative Learning ◽  
Learning Theory ◽  
Causal Structure ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Learning Task ◽  
Contingency Learning

Abstract. In a contingency learning task, 4-year-old and 8-year-old children had to predict the outcome displayed on the back of a card on the basis of cues presented on the front. The task was embedded in either a causal or a merely predictive scenario. Within this task, either a forward blocking or a backward blocking procedure was implemented. Blocking occurred in the causal but not in the predictive scenario. Moreover, blocking was affected by the scenario to the same extent in both age groups. The pattern of results was similar for forward and backward blocking. These results suggest that even young children are sensitive to the causal structure of a contingency learning task and that the occurrence of blocking in such a task defies an explanation in terms of associative learning theory.

scholarly journals No sex differences in learning in wild bumblebees

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Felicity Muth ◽  
Amber D Tripodi ◽  
Rene Bonilla ◽  
James P Strange ◽  
Anne S Leonard
Keyword(s):  
Sex Differences ◽  
Associative Learning ◽  
Sierra Nevada ◽  
Comparative Cognition ◽  
Natural Populations ◽  
Interspecific Variation ◽  
Learning Task ◽  
Learning Ability ◽  
Learning Performance ◽  
Males And Females

Abstract Females and males often face different sources of selection, resulting in dimorphism in morphological, physiological, and even cognitive traits. Sex differences are often studied in respect to spatial cognition, yet the different ecological roles of males and females might shape cognition in multiple ways. For example, in dietary generalist bumblebees (Bombus), the ability to learn associations is critical to female workers, who face informationally rich foraging scenarios as they collect nectar and pollen from thousands of flowers over a period of weeks to months to feed the colony. While male bumblebees likely need to learn associations as well, they only forage for themselves while searching for potential mates. It is thus less clear whether foraging males would benefit from the same associative learning performance as foraging females. In this system, as in others, cognitive performance is typically studied in lab-reared animals under captive conditions, which may not be representative of patterns in the wild. In the first test of sex and species differences in cognition using wild bumblebees, we compared the performance of Bombus vancouverensis nearcticus (formerly bifarius) and Bombus vosnesenskii of both sexes on an associative learning task at Sierra Nevada (CA) field sites. Across both species, we found that males and females did not differ in their ability to learn, although males were slower to respond to the sucrose reward. These results offer the first evidence from natural populations that male bumblebees may be equally as able to learn associations as females, supporting findings from captive colonies of commercial bees. The observed interspecific variation in learning ability opens the door to using the Bombus system to test hypotheses about comparative cognition.

Medial orbitofrontal deactivation during a visual associative learning task: fMRI study

NeuroImage ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 692
Author(s):  
Yukiko Kikuchi-Yorioka ◽  
Toshiyuki Sawaguchi ◽  
Jun Okamoto ◽  
Satoru Miyauchi
Keyword(s):  
Associative Learning ◽  
Learning Task ◽  
Fmri Study

scholarly journals The role of intolerance of uncertainty in the acquisition and extinction of reward

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jayne Morriss ◽  
Nicolo Biagi ◽  
Tina B. Lonsdorf ◽  
Marta Andreatta
Keyword(s):  
Associative Learning ◽  
Conceptual Understanding ◽  
Skin Conductance Response ◽  
Intolerance Of Uncertainty ◽  
Acquisition Training ◽  
Learning Task ◽  
Partial Reward ◽  
Extinction Training ◽  
Corrugator Supercilii

AbstractIndividuals, who score high in self-reported intolerance of uncertainty (IU), tend to find uncertainty anxiety-provoking. IU has been reliably associated with disrupted threat extinction. However, it remains unclear whether IU would be related to disrupted extinction to other arousing stimuli that are not threatening (i.e., rewarding). We addressed this question by conducting a reward associative learning task with acquisition and extinction training phases (n = 58). Throughout the associative learning task, we recorded valence ratings (i.e. liking), skin conductance response (SCR) (i.e. sweating), and corrugator supercilii activity (i.e. brow muscle indicative or negative and positive affect) to learned reward and neutral cues. During acquisition training with partial reward reinforcement, higher IU was associated with greater corrugator supercilii activity to neutral compared to reward cues. IU was not related to valence ratings or SCR’s during the acquisition or extinction training phases. These preliminary results suggest that IU-related deficits during extinction may be limited to situations with threat. The findings further our conceptual understanding of IU’s role in the associative learning and extinction of reward, and in relation to the processing of threat and reward more generally.

Self-processing in relation to emotion and reward processing in depression

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Catherine Hobbs ◽  
Jie Sui ◽  
David Kessler ◽  
Marcus R. Munafò ◽  
Katherine S. Button
Keyword(s):  
Learning Task ◽  
Reward Processing ◽  
The Self ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Implicit Associations ◽  
Social Evaluation ◽  
Cognitive Domains ◽  
Effective Interventions ◽  
Precise Relationship

Abstract Background Depression is characterised by a heightened self-focus, which is believed to be associated with differences in emotion and reward processing. However, the precise relationship between these cognitive domains is not well understood. We examined the role of self-reference in emotion and reward processing, separately and in combination, in relation to depression. Methods Adults experiencing varying levels of depression (n = 144) completed self-report depression measures (PHQ-9, BDI-II). We measured self, emotion and reward processing, separately and in combination, using three cognitive tasks. Results When self-processing was measured independently of emotion and reward, in a simple associative learning task, there was little association with depression. However, when self and emotion processing occurred in combination in a self-esteem go/no-go task, depression was associated with an increased positive other bias [b = 3.51, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.24–5.79]. When the self was processed in relation to emotion and reward, in a social evaluation learning task, depression was associated with reduced positive self-biases (b = 0.11, 95% CI 0.05–0.17). Conclusions Depression was associated with enhanced positive implicit associations with others, and reduced positive learning about the self, culminating in reduced self-favouring biases. However, when self, emotion and reward processing occurred independently there was little evidence of an association with depression. Treatments targeting reduced positive self-biases may provide more sensitive targets for therapeutic intervention and potential biomarkers of treatment responses, allowing the development of more effective interventions.

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