Dysfunctional approach behavior triggered by alcohol-unrelated Pavlovian cues predicts long-term relapse in alcohol dependence.

Sommer, Christian; Birkenstock, Julian; Garbusow, Maria; Obst, Elisabeth; Schad, Daniel J; Bernhardt, Nadine; Huys, Quentin M; Wurst, Friedrich M; Weinmann, Wolfgang; Heinz, Andreas; Smolka, Michael N; Zimmermann, Ulrich S (2020). Dysfunctional approach behavior triggered by alcohol-unrelated Pavlovian cues predicts long-term relapse in alcohol dependence. Addiction biology, 25(1), e12703. Wiley-Blackwell 10.1111/adb.12703

Text Sommer_et_al-2018-Addiction_Biology.pdf - Published Version Restricted to registered users only Available under License Publisher holds Copyright. Download (488kB) | Request a copy

We demonstrated that alcohol-dependent patients who relapsed within 1 year after detoxification showed stronger PIT effects compared with abstainers and controls. Relapsers particularly failed to correctly perform in trials where an instrumental stimulus required inhibition while a Pavlovian background cue indicated a monetary gain. Under that condition, relapsers approached the instrumental stimulus, independent of the expected punishment. The failure of inhibiting an aversive stimulus in favor of approaching an appetitive context cue reflects dysfunctional altered learning mechanisms in relapsers.

Interest & Impact

Downloads

0 since deposited on 13 Mar 2019
0 in the past 12 months

Citations

5 Citations in Web of Science ®
6 Citations in Scopus

Search

in Google Scholar™

Services

Actions (login required)

Edit item

Actions (login required)

Edit item