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

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.

Effects of alcohol intoxication on self-reported drinking patterns, expectancies, motives and personality: a randomized controlled experimental study.

Alcohol intoxication may affect self-reports of alcohol use and related constructs, such as impulsivity and dependence symptoms. Improved knowledge about potential systematic reporting biases induced by alcohol, e.g. through disinhibition, may be relevant for the assessment of intoxicated individuals both in clinical routine and research. We therefore randomly assigned 54 socially drinking males aged 18 to 19 without lifetime diagnosis of DSM-IV alcohol dependence to one of two experimental arms: either placebo infusion at day 1 and alcohol infusion at day 2, or vice versa. The lab-based intravenous alcohol infusion produced a constant blood alcohol level of 0.08 percent. On each day, participants completed the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test, as well as other questionnaires on alcohol expectancies, drinking motives and substance use-related temperament traits. We found that alcohol significantly increased self-reported expectancies (tension reduction) and motives (conformity; η2  = .16-.23), but we observed no effect of sequence, i.e. alcohol first versus placebo first (Pcorr  ≥ .118). High baseline alcohol expectancies did not moderate alcohol effects (Pcorr  ≥ .462). We conclude that moderate alcohol intoxication might not generally affect the reliability of self-reported alcohol use, alcohol use problems and psychological concepts related to drinking behavior in young males without alcohol dependence. Future studies could examine larger, less selective and clinical samples for possible alcohol effects on self-report measures related to alcohol consumption.

Subjective alcohol responses in high- and low-risk adolescents: results from the Dresden Longitudinal Study on Alcohol Use in Young Adults.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Research shows that sensitivity to certain alcohol responses conveys risk for problem drinking. This study aimed to determine if high-risk adolescent drinkers infuse more alcohol and experience greater alcohol-induced stimulation and wanting and less sedation than low-risk adolescent drinkers. DESIGN AND PARTICIPANTS: Ninety-two low- (n = 38) and high-risk (n = 54) adolescent drinkers, as determined by Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test scores of < 6 or ≥ 6, respectively, participated in the Dresden Longitudinal Study on Alcohol Use in Young Adults in which intravenous alcohol self-administration was examined in a mixed within- and between-subjects design. SETTING: Technische Universität Dresden. Dresden, Germany. MEASUREMENTS: Predictors were drinking status (high- versus low-risk), time and their interactions. Outcomes were arterial blood alcohol concentration (aBAC); alcohol-induced stimulation, sedation and wanting assessed at baseline, 10 (alcohol prime), 45, 65, 85, 105, 125 and 145 minutes. Covariates were family history of alcohol use disorder, sex and aBAC. RESULTS: The alcohol prime dose produced similar sharp increases in stimulation and sedation in high- and low-risk drinkers (time P < 0.001; group × time P > 0.05). During self-administration, high-risk drinkers reached higher aBACs (P = 0.028) at a faster rate (group × time P < 0.001), and experienced further increases in stimulation (group × time P = 0.005) but with similar sedation (group × time P = 0.794) than in low-risk drinkers. High-risk drinkers also exhibited greater tonic alcohol wanting (group P = 0.003) throughout the session. CONCLUSIONS: High-risk adolescent drinkers appear to have heightened sensitivity to alcohol-induced stimulation and tonic high levels of wanting compared with low-risk adolescent drinkers.

Sensation seeking, impulsivity, and aggression moderate sex effects on adolescent laboratory binging.

Sex, comprising biological and gender-related distinctions, is a known risk factor for alcohol use disorders. Moreover, sensation seeking, impulsivity, and aggression have been found to predict binge drinking and to reflect behavioral disinhibition. We tested effects of these disinhibited traits on binging during intravenous alcohol self-administration (ivASA), a method that eliminates sex differences in the pharmacokinetics of alcohol. Eighty-five German social drinkers (49 men) completed 3 questionnaires assessing sensation seeking, impulsivity, and aggression, as well as an ivASA session at ages 18-19. Sixty-five of them were retested at ages 21-22. Participants reported real-life drinking problems and the number of binge days in the 45 days preceding lab testing. Analyses employed continuous data and median splits to examine associations between disinhibited traits and the portion of women and men in the sample who achieved a breath alcohol concentration of 80 mg% during ivASA ("binge fraction"). At ages 18-19, and only if scoring low on sensation seeking, impulsivity, or aggression, women had significantly lower binge fractions during ivASA than men. Further, low compared to high impulsivity or aggression predicted lower binge fractions in women but not in men. Neither first- nor second-wave disinhibited traits significantly predicted binge fractions at ages 21-22. We perceive that personality traits reflecting behavioral disinhibition might be a strong indicator of drinking problems, specifically among young women. Targeted brief interventions might therefore be used in educational or clinical settings to inform such women about their increased risk and the potential health and behavioral problems associated with binge drinking. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Dissociating neural learning signals in human sign- and goal-trackers.

Individuals differ in how they learn from experience. In Pavlovian conditioning models, where cues predict reinforcer delivery at a different goal location, some animals-called sign-trackers-come to approach the cue, whereas others, called goal-trackers, approach the goal. In sign-trackers, model-free phasic dopaminergic reward-prediction errors underlie learning, which renders stimuli 'wanted'. Goal-trackers do not rely on dopamine for learning and are thought to use model-based learning. We demonstrate this double dissociation in 129 male humans using eye-tracking, pupillometry and functional magnetic resonance imaging informed by computational models of sign- and goal-tracking. We show that sign-trackers exhibit a neural reward prediction error signal that is not detectable in goal-trackers. Model-free value only guides gaze and pupil dilation in sign-trackers. Goal-trackers instead exhibit a stronger model-based neural state prediction error signal. This model-based construct determines gaze and pupil dilation more in goal-trackers.

Acute alcohol effects on impulsive choice in adolescents.

BACKGROUND: Neurodevelopmental and alcohol-induced changes in decision-making have been proposed to critically influence impulsive behaviour in adolescents. OBJECTIVE: This study tested the influence of acute alcohol administration on impulsive choice in adolescents. METHODS: Fifty-four males aged 18-19 years were tested in a single-blind placebo-controlled cross-over design. During alcohol administration (infusion resulting in an arterial blood alcohol concentration of 80 mg%) and placebo condition (saline infusion), participants performed a task battery providing estimates of delay discounting, probability discounting for gains, for losses and loss aversion, and also rated subjectively experienced alcohol effects. Additionally, baseline alcohol consumption (Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test, blood phosphatidylethanol levels), motives (Drinking Motive Questionnaire, Alcohol Expectancy Questionnaire and Obsessive Compulsive Drinking Scale), family history and self-report measures of impulsivity (Barratt Impulsiveness Scale, Substance Use Risk Profile Scale) were provided. RESULTS: No overall effects of treatment on choice behaviour were found. However, individual differences were observed. In the alcohol condition, more impulsive choice tendencies for delay discounting were associated with higher subjectively experienced alcohol effects. Further, higher risk aversion for probabilistic gains and higher loss aversion during alcohol condition were related to higher levels of real-life alcohol consumption and a family history of alcohol problems, respectively. Finally, the time to make a decision was substantially shortened for choices involving negative prospects. CONCLUSIONS: Contrary to common beliefs, acute alcohol intoxication did not generally incite impulsive decision-making. It rather appears that alcohol-induced behavioural changes in adolescents vary considerably depending on prior experiences and subjective effects of alcohol.

Drunk decisions: Alcohol shifts choice from habitual towards goal-directed control in adolescent intermediate-risk drinkers.

BACKGROUND: Studies in humans and animals suggest a shift from goal-directed to habitual decision-making in addiction. We therefore tested whether acute alcohol administration reduces goal-directed and promotes habitual decision-making, and whether these effects are moderated by self-reported drinking problems. METHODS: Fifty-three socially drinking males completed the two-step task in a randomised crossover design while receiving an intravenous infusion of ethanol (blood alcohol level=80 mg%), or placebo. To minimise potential bias by long-standing heavy drinking and subsequent neuropsychological impairment, we tested 18- to 19-year-old adolescents. RESULTS: Alcohol administration consistently reduced habitual, model-free decisions, while its effects on goal-directed, model-based behaviour varied as a function of drinking problems measured with the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test. While adolescents with low risk for drinking problems (scoring <8) exhibited an alcohol-induced numerical reduction in goal-directed choices, intermediate-risk drinkers showed a shift away from habitual towards goal-directed decision-making, such that alcohol possibly even improved their performance. CONCLUSIONS: We assume that alcohol disrupted basic cognitive functions underlying habitual and goal-directed decisions in low-risk drinkers, thereby enhancing hasty choices. Further, we speculate that intermediate-risk drinkers benefited from alcohol as a negative reinforcer that reduced unpleasant emotional states, possibly displaying a novel risk factor for drinking in adolescence.