scholarly journals Associative processes in addiction relapse models: A review of their Pavlovian and instrumental mechanisms, history, and terminology

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. e18
Author(s):  
Belinda Po Pyn Lay ◽  
Shaun Yon-Seng Khoo
Keyword(s):  
Associative Learning ◽  
Context Effects ◽  
Operant Response ◽  
Learning Approaches ◽  
Self Administration ◽  
Context Change ◽  
Alternative Response ◽  
Associative Processes ◽  
Addiction Studies ◽  
Behavioural Theories

Animal models of relapse to drug-seeking have borrowed heavily from associative learning approaches. In studies of relapse-like behaviour, animals learn to self-administer drugs then receive a period of extinction during which they learn to inhibit the operant response. Several triggers can produce a recovery of responding which form the basis of a variety of models. These include the passage of time (spontaneous recovery), drug availability (rapid reacquisition), extinction of an alternative response (resurgence), context change (renewal), drug priming, stress, and cues (reinstatement). In most cases, the behavioural processes driving extinction and recovery in operant drug self-administration studies are similar to those in the Pavlovian and behavioural literature, such as context effects. However, reinstatement in addiction studies have several differences with Pavlovian reinstatement, which have emerged over several decades, in experimental procedures, associative mechanisms, and terminology. Interestingly, in cue-induced reinstatement, drug-paired cues that are present during acquisition are omitted during lever extinction. The unextinguished drug-paired cue may limit the model’s translational relevance to cue exposure therapy and renders its underlying associative mechanisms ambiguous. We review major behavioural theories that explain recovery phenomena, with a particular focus on cue-induced reinstatement because it is a widely used model in addiction. We argue that cue-induced reinstatement may be explained by a combination of behavioural processes, including reacquisition of conditioned reinforcement and Pavlovian to Instrumental Transfer. While there are important differences between addiction studies and the behavioural literature in terminology and procedures, it is clear that understanding associative learning processes is essential for studying relapse.

scholarly journals Associative processes in addiction relapse models: A review of their Pavlovian and instrumental mechanisms, history, and terminology

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Belinda Lay ◽  
Shaun Khoo
Keyword(s):  
Associative Learning ◽  
Context Effects ◽  
Operant Response ◽  
Learning Approaches ◽  
Self Administration ◽  
Context Change ◽  
Alternative Response ◽  
Associative Processes ◽  
Addiction Studies ◽  
Behavioural Theories

Animal models of relapse to drug-seeking have borrowed heavily from associative learning approaches. In studies of relapse-like behaviour, animals learn to self-administer drugs then receive a period of extinction during which they learn to inhibit the operant response. Several triggers can produce a recovery of responding which form the basis of a variety of models. These include the passage of time (spontaneous recovery), drug availability (rapid reacquisition), extinction of an alternative response (resurgence), context change (renewal), drug priming, stress, and cues (reinstatement). In most cases, the behavioural processes driving extinction and recovery in operant drug self-administration studies are similar to those in the Pavlovian and behavioural literature, such as context effects. However, reinstatement in addiction studies have several differences with Pavlovian reinstatement, which have emerged over several decades, in experimental procedures, associative mechanisms, and terminology. Interestingly, in cue-induced reinstatement, drug-paired cues that are present during acquisition are omitted during lever extinction. The unextinguished drug-paired cue may limit the model’s translational relevance to cue exposure therapy and renders its underlying associative mechanisms ambiguous. We review major behavioural theories that explain recovery phenomena, with a particular focus on cue-induced reinstatement because it is a widely used model in addiction. We argue that cue-induced reinstatement may be explained by a combination of behavioural processes, including reacquisition of conditioned reinforcement and Pavlovian to Instrumental Transfer. While there are important differences between addiction studies and the behavioural literature in terminology and procedures, it is clear that understanding associative learning processes is essential for studying relapse.

scholarly journals Associative learning and animal cognition

2012 ◽  
Vol 367 (1603) ◽  
pp. 2733-2742 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony Dickinson
Keyword(s):  
Associative Learning ◽  
Practical Reasoning ◽  
Animal Cognition ◽  
Prediction Errors ◽  
Associative Processes ◽  
Directed Action ◽  
Processing Architectures ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Theoretical Component

Associative learning plays a variety of roles in the study of animal cognition from a core theoretical component to a null hypothesis against which the contribution of cognitive processes is assessed. Two developments in contemporary associative learning have enhanced its relevance to animal cognition. The first concerns the role of associatively activated representations, whereas the second is the development of hybrid theories in which learning is determined by prediction errors, both directly and indirectly through associability processes. However, it remains unclear whether these developments allow associative theory to capture the psychological rationality of cognition. I argue that embodying associative processes within specific processing architectures provides mechanisms that can mediate psychological rationality and illustrate such embodiment by discussing the relationship between practical reasoning and the associative-cybernetic model of goal-directed action.

scholarly journals Genesis and Maintenance of Attentional Biases: The Role of the Locus Coeruleus-Noradrenaline System

2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 ◽  
pp. 1-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mana R. Ehlers ◽  
Rebecca M. Todd
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Locus Coeruleus ◽  
Associative Learning ◽  
Learning Processes ◽  
Attentional Biases ◽  
Associative Processes ◽  
Naturally Occurring ◽  
Attentional Tuning ◽  
Pharmacological Manipulations

Emotionally arousing events are typically better remembered than mundane ones, in part because emotionally relevant aspects of our environment are prioritized in attention. Such biased attentional tuning is itself the result of associative processes through which we learn affective and motivational relevance of cues. We propose that the locus coeruleus-noradrenaline (LC-NA) system plays an important role in the genesis of attentional biases through associative learning processes as well as their maintenance. We further propose that individual differences in and disruptions of the LC-NA system underlie the development of maladaptive biases linked to psychopathology. We provide support for the proposed role of the LC-NA system by first reviewing work on attentional biases in development and its link to psychopathology in relation to alterations and individual differences in NA availability. We focus on pharmacological manipulations to demonstrate the effect of a disrupted system as well as theADRA2bpolymorphism as a tool to investigate naturally occurring differences in NA availability. We next review associative learning processes that—modulated by the LC-NA system—result in such implicit attentional biases. Further, we demonstrate how NA may influence aversive and appetitive conditioning linked to anxiety disorders as well as addiction and depression.

scholarly journals Inactivation of posterior but not anterior dorsomedial caudate-putamen impedes learning with self-administered nicotine stimulus

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher L. Robison ◽  
Theodore Kazan ◽  
Rikki Miller ◽  
Nicole Cova ◽  
Sergios Charntikov
Keyword(s):  
Associative Learning ◽  
Learning Processes ◽  
Self Administration ◽  
Neural Structure ◽  
Caudate Putamen ◽  
Appetitive Learning ◽  
Nicotine Administration ◽  
Functional Involvement ◽  
Goal Tracking ◽  
Tracking Response

ABSTRACTThe rodent caudate-putamen is a large heterogeneous neural structure with distinct anatomical connections that differ in their control of learning processes. Previous research suggests that the anterior and posterior dorsomedial caudate-putamen (a- and p-dmCPu) differentially regulate associative learning with a non-contingent nicotine stimulus. The current study used bilateral NMDA-induced excitotoxic lesions to the a-dmCPu and p-dmCPu to determine the functional involvement of a-dmCPu and p-dmCPu in appetitive learning with contingent nicotine stimulus. Rats with a-dmCPu, p-dmCPu, or sham lesions were trained to lever-press for intravenous nicotine (0.03 mg/kg/inf) followed by access to sucrose 30 s later. After 1, 3, 9, and 20 nicotine-sucrose training sessions, appetitive learning in the form of a goal-tracking response was assessed using a non-contingent nicotine-alone test. All rats acquired nicotine self-administration and learned to retrieve sucrose from a receptacle at equal rates. However, rats with lesions to p-dmCPu demonstrated blunted learning of the nicotine-sucrose association. Our primary findings show that rats with lesions to p-dmCPu had a blunted goal-tracking response to a non-contingent nicotine administration after 20 consecutive days of nicotine-sucrose pairing. Our findings extend previous reports to a contingent model of nicotine self-administration and show that p-dmCPu is involved in associative learning with nicotine stimulus using a paradigm where rats voluntarily self-administer nicotine infusions that are paired with access to sucrose—a paradigm that closely resembles learning processes observed in humans.

scholarly journals Neural Mechanisms of Context Effects on Face Recognition: Automatic Binding and Context Shift Decrements

2010 ◽  
Vol 22 (11) ◽  
pp. 2541-2554 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott M. Hayes ◽  
Elsa Baena ◽  
Trong-Kha Truong ◽  
Roberto Cabeza
Keyword(s):  
Face Recognition ◽  
Medial Temporal Lobe ◽  
Context Effects ◽  
Recognition Performance ◽  
Neural Mechanisms ◽  
Context Change ◽  
Parahippocampal Cortex ◽  
The Face ◽  
Context Shift ◽  
Encoding And Retrieval

Although people do not normally try to remember associations between faces and physical contexts, these associations are established automatically, as indicated by the difficulty of recognizing familiar faces in different contexts (“butcher-on-the-bus” phenomenon). The present fMRI study investigated the automatic binding of faces and scenes. In the face–face (F–F) condition, faces were presented alone during both encoding and retrieval, whereas in the face/scene–face (FS–F) condition, they were presented overlaid on scenes during encoding but alone during retrieval (context change). Although participants were instructed to focus only on the faces during both encoding and retrieval, recognition performance was worse in the FS–F than in the F–F condition (“context shift decrement” [CSD]), confirming automatic face–scene binding during encoding. This binding was mediated by the hippocampus as indicated by greater subsequent memory effects (remembered > forgotten) in this region for the FS–F than the F–F condition. Scene memory was mediated by right parahippocampal cortex, which was reactivated during successful retrieval when the faces were associated with a scene during encoding (FS–F condition). Analyses using the CSD as a regressor yielded a clear hemispheric asymmetry in medial temporal lobe activity during encoding: Left hippocampal and parahippocampal activity was associated with a smaller CSD, indicating more flexible memory representations immune to context changes, whereas right hippocampal/rhinal activity was associated with a larger CSD, indicating less flexible representations sensitive to context change. Taken together, the results clarify the neural mechanisms of context effects on face recognition.

scholarly journals Lateral Preoptic Area Neurons Signal Cocaine Self-Administration Behaviors

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin R Coffey ◽  
Vaishnavi Venkat ◽  
Mark West ◽  
David Barker
Keyword(s):  
Substance Use ◽  
Substance Use Disorder ◽  
Preoptic Area ◽  
Operant Response ◽  
Discrete Elements ◽  
Self Administration ◽  
Drug Seeking ◽  
The Face ◽  
Highly Correlated ◽  
The Individual

The lateral preoptic area is implicated in numerous aspects of substance use disorder. In particular, the lateral preoptic area is highly sensitive to the pharmacological properties of psychomotor stimulants, and its activity promotes drug-seeking in the face of punishment and reinstatement during abstinence. Despite the lateral preoptic areas complicity in substance use disorder, how precisely lateral preoptic area neurons encode the individual components of drug self-administration has not been ascertained. To bridge this gap, we examined how the firing of single lateral preoptic area neurons correlates with three discrete elements of cocaine self-administration: 1) drug-seeking (pre-response), 2) drug-taking (response), and 3) receipt of the cocaine infusion. A significant subset of lateral preoptic area neurons responded to each component with a mix of increases and decreases in firing-rate. A majority of these neurons encoded the operant response with increases in spiking, though responses during the drug-seeking, taking, and reciept windows were highly correlated.

scholarly journals Mackintosh lecture—: Association and cognition: Two processes, one system

2018 ◽  
Vol 72 (2) ◽  
pp. 98-117 ◽  
Author(s):  
IPL McLaren ◽  
Amy McAndrew ◽  
Katharina Angerer ◽  
Rossy McLaren ◽  
Charlotte Forrest ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Associative Learning ◽  
Task Switching ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Dual Process ◽  
Mental Life ◽  
Rule Based ◽  
Associative Processes ◽  
First Approximation ◽  
Modes Of Processing ◽  
Do So

This article argues that the dual-process position can be a useful first approximation when studying human mental life, but it cannot be the whole truth. Instead, we argue that cognition is built on association, in that associative processes provide the fundamental building blocks that enable propositional thought. One consequence of this position is to suggest that humans are able to learn associatively in a similar fashion to a rat or a pigeon, but another is that we must typically suppress the expression of basic associative learning in favour of rule-based computation. This stance conceptualises us as capable of symbolic computation but acknowledges that, given certain circumstances, we will learn associatively and, more importantly, be seen to do so. We present three types of evidence that support this position: The first is data on human Pavlovian conditioning that directly support this view. The second is data taken from task-switching experiments that provide convergent evidence for at least two modes of processing, one of which is automatic and carried out “in the background.” And the last suggests that when the output of propositional processes is uncertain, the influence of associative processes on behaviour can manifest.

scholarly journals Chronic Cocaine Self-Administration in Rhesus Monkeys: Impact on Associative Learning, Cognitive Control, and Working Memory

2011 ◽  
Vol 31 (13) ◽  
pp. 4926-4934 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. N. Porter ◽  
A. S. Olsen ◽  
K. Gurnsey ◽  
B. P. Dugan ◽  
H. P. Jedema ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Cognitive Control ◽  
Associative Learning ◽  
Rhesus Monkeys ◽  
Self Administration ◽  
Chronic Cocaine

scholarly journals Modeling Motivation for Alcohol in Humans using Traditional and Machine Learning Approaches

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erica Grodin ◽  
Amanda Kay Montoya ◽  
Spencer Bujarski ◽  
Lara A. Ray
Keyword(s):  
Machine Learning ◽  
A Priori ◽  
Progressive Ratio ◽  
Data Driven ◽  
Learning Approaches ◽  
Self Administration ◽  
Breath Alcohol ◽  
Data Driven Approach ◽  
Preclinical And Clinical Studies ◽  
Alcohol Seeking

Given the significant cost of alcohol use disorder, identifying risk factors for alcohol seeking represents a research priority. Prominent addiction theories emphasize the role of motivation in the alcohol seeking process, which has largely been studied using preclinical models. In order to bridge the gap between preclinical and clinical studies, this study examined predictors of motivation for alcohol self-administration using a novel paradigm. Heavy drinkers (n=67) completed an alcohol infusion consisting of an alcohol challenge (target breath alcohol = 60mg%) and a progressive-ratio alcohol self-administration paradigm (maximum breath alcohol 120mg%; ratio requirements range = 20-3,139 response). Growth curve modeling was used to predict breath alcohol trajectories during alcohol self-administration. K-means clustering was used to identify motivated (n=41) and unmotivated (n=26) self-administration trajectories. The data was analyzed using two approaches: a theory-driven test of a-priori predictors and a data-driven, machine learning model. In both approaches, steeper delay discounting, indicating a preference for smaller, sooner rewards, predicted motivated alcohol seeking. The data-driven approach further identified phasic alcohol craving as a predictor of motivated alcohol self-administration. Additional application of this model to AUD translational science and treatment development appear warranted.

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