Reward-related attentional capture and cognitive inflexibility interact to determine greater severity of compulsivity-related problems.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Neurocognitive processes are key drivers of addictive and compulsive disorders. The current study examined whether reward-related attentional capture and cognitive inflexibility are associated with impulsive and/or compulsive personality traits, and whether these cognitive characteristics interact to predict greater compulsivity-related problems across obsessive-compulsive and drinking behaviors. METHODS: One-hundred and seventy-three participants (mean age = 34.5 years, S.D = 8.4, 42% female) completed an online visual search task to measure reward-related attentional capture and its persistence following reversal of stimulus-reward contingencies. Participants also completed questionnaires to assess trait impulsivity, compulsivity, alcohol use, and obsessive-compulsive behaviors. RESULTS: Greater reward-related attentional capture was associated with trait compulsivity, over and above all impulsivity dimensions, while greater cognitive inflexibility was associated with higher negative urgency (distress-elicited impulsivity). Reward-related attentional capture and cognitive inflexibility interacted to predict greater compulsivity-related problems among participants who reported obsessive-compulsive behaviors in the past month (n = 57) as well as current drinkers (n = 88). Follow-up analyses showed that, for OCD behaviors, this interaction was driven by an association between higher reward-related attentional capture and more problematic behaviors among cognitively inflexible participants only. For drinking, the same pattern was seen, albeit at trend level. LIMITATIONS: This study includes a non-clinical, online sample and is cross-sectional, thus its findings need to be interpreted with these limitations in mind. CONCLUSIONS: Reward-related attentional capture and cognitive flexibility are related to trait compulsivity and impulsivity (negative urgency) respectively, and interact to determine more problematic behaviors.

Reward-related attentional capture is associated with severity of addictive and obsessive-compulsive behaviors.

A cue that signals reward can capture attention and elicit approach behaviors in people and animals. The current study examined whether attentional capture by reward-related cues is associated with severity of addiction-related and obsessive-compulsive behaviors. Participants were recruited via Mechanical Turk and included 143 adults (Mage = 34 years, SD = 8.5; 43% female) who had endorsed at least 1 addiction-related or obsessive-compulsive behavior in the past month. All assessment components were delivered via the Internet and included questionnaires to assess severity of compulsivity-related problems across addiction-related and obsessive-compulsive behaviors, as well as a visual search task to measure reward-related attentional capture. Reward-related attentional capture was associated with severity of compulsivity, transdiagnostically. These findings have implications for understanding the mechanisms that underlie compulsive behaviors and suggest that reward-related attentional capture is a promising transdiagnostic cognitive risk marker for compulsivity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Danger Changes the Way the Mammalian Brain Stores Information About Innocuous Events: A Study of Sensory Preconditioning in Rats.

The amygdala is a critical substrate for learning about cues that signal danger. Less is known about its role in processing innocuous or background information. The present study addressed this question using a sensory preconditioning protocol in male rats. In each experiment, rats were exposed to pairings of two innocuous stimuli in stage 1, S2 and S1, and then to pairings of S1 and shock in stage 2. As a consequence of this training, control rats displayed defensive reactions (freezing) when tested with both S2 and S1. The freezing to S2 is a product of two associations formed in training: an S2-S1 association in stage 1 and an S1-shock association in stage 2. We examined the roles of two medial temporal lobe (MTL) structures in consolidation of the S2-S1 association: the perirhinal cortex (PRh) and basolateral complex of the amygdala (BLA). When the S2-S1 association formed in a safe context, its consolidation required neuronal activity in the PRh (but not BLA), including activation of AMPA receptors and MAPK signaling. In contrast, when the S2-S1 association formed in a dangerous context, or when the context was rendered dangerous immediately after the association had formed, its consolidation required neuronal activity in the BLA (but not PRh), including activation of AMPA receptors and MAPK signaling. These roles of the PRh and BLA show that danger changes the way the mammalian brain stores information about innocuous events. They are discussed with respect to danger-induced changes in stimulus processing.

Temporal dynamics of choice behavior in rats and humans: an examination of pre- and post-choice latencies.

Identifying similarities and differences in choice behavior across species is informative about how basic mechanisms give rise to more complex processes. In the present study, we compared pre- and post-choice latencies between rats and humans under two paradigms. In Experiment 1, we used a cued choice paradigm where subjects were presented with a cue that directed them as to which of two options to respond for rewards. In Experiment 2, subjects were free to choose between two options in order to procure rewards. In both Experiments rewards were delivered with distinct probabilities. The trial structure used in these experiments allowed the choice process to be decomposed into pre- and post-choice processes. Overall, post-choice latencies reflected the difference in reward probability between the two options, where latencies for the option with higher probability of reward were longer than those for the option with lower probability of reward. An interesting difference between rats and humans was observed: the choice behavior for humans, but not rats, was sensitive to the free-choice aspect of the tasks, such that in free-choice trials post-choice latencies no longer reflected the difference in reward probabilities between the two options.

Behavioral correlates of the decision process in a dynamic environment: post-choice latencies reflect relative value and choice evaluation.

One characteristic of natural environments is that outcomes vary across time. Animals need to adapt to these environmental changes and adjust their choices accordingly. In this experiment, we investigated the sensitivity with which rats could detect, and adapt to, multiple changes in the environment. Rats chose between two spouts which delivered 5% sucrose rewards with distinct probabilities. Across three phases, reward probabilities changed in size (large or small) and direction (increase or decrease). A discrete trial-structure was used, which allowed the choice process to be decomposed into three distinct response latency measures (choice execution latency, spout sampling duration, and trial-initiation latency). We found that a large decrease in reward probabilities rapidly produced the greatest change in choice proportions. The time taken to execute a choice reflected the differences in reward probabilities across the two spouts in some cases, but also reflected training history. By contrast, the amount of time rats spent responding at reward spouts in anticipation of reward consistently reflected the relative likelihood of reward across the two spouts and not the absolute probability of reward. The latency to initiate the subsequent trial reflected choice evaluation. These three response latencies thus indexed key behavioral correlates of the choice process as it unfolds in time. We discuss how this paradigm can be used to assess the corresponding neural correlates of decision-making.

Phantom perception: voluntary and involuntary nonretinal vision.

Hallucinations, mental imagery, synesthesia, perceptual filling-in, and many illusions are conscious visual experiences without a corresponding retinal stimulus: what we call 'phantom perception'. Such percepts show that our experience of the world is not solely determined by direct sensory input. Some phantom percepts are voluntary, whereas others are involuntarily, occurring automatically. Here, by way of review, we compare and contrast these two types of phantom perception and their neural representations. We propose a dichotomous framework for phantom vision, analogous to the subtypes of attention: endogenous and exogenous. This framework unifies findings from different fields and species, providing a guide to study the constructive nature of conscious sensory perception.

Dynamics of pre- and post-choice behaviour: rats approximate optimal strategy in a discrete-trial decision task.

We simulate two types of environments to investigate how closely rats approximate optimal foraging. Rats initiated a trial where they chose between two spouts for sucrose, which was delivered at distinct probabilities. The discrete trial procedure used allowed us to observe the relationship between choice proportions, response latencies and obtained rewards. Our results show that rats approximate the optimal strategy across a range of environments that differ in the average probability of reward as well as the dynamics of the depletion-renewal cycle. We found that the constituent components of a single choice differentially reflect environmental contingencies. Post-choice behaviour, measured as the duration of time rats spent licking at the spouts on unrewarded trials, was the most sensitive index of environmental variables, adjusting most rapidly to changes in the environment. These findings have implications for the role of confidence in choice outcomes for guiding future choices.

Neurological and stress related effects of shifting obese rats from a palatable diet to chow and lean rats from chow to a palatable diet.

Rats exposed to an energy rich, cafeteria diet overeat and become obese. The present experiment examined the neural and behavioural effects of shifting obese rats from this diet to chow and lean rats from chow to the cafeteria diet. Two groups of male Sprague Dawley rats (n=24) were fed either highly palatable cafeteria diet or regular chow (30% vs. 12% energy as fat) for 16 weeks. Half of each group (n=12) was then switched to the opposing diet while the remainder continued on their original diet. The effects of diet switch on the response to restraint stress were assessed and rats were euthanised nine days after diet reversal. After 16 weeks of cafeteria diet, rats were 27% heavier than controls. Rats switched from chow to cafeteria diet (Ch-Caf) became hyperphagic and had increased dopamine D1, D2 and tyrosine hydroxylase mRNA expression in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) compared to rats switched from cafeteria to chow (Caf-Ch). Caf-Ch rats were hypophagic with significant reductions in white (16%) and brown (32%) adipose tissue mass, plasma leptin (34%) and fasting glucose (22%) compared to rats remaining on the cafeteria diet (Caf-Caf). Caf-Caf rats had an elevated plasma corticosterone response to restraint stress compared to Ch-Caf rats indicating that acute but not chronic consumption of palatable cafeteria diet may protect against stress. Caf-Ch rats had increased corticotropin releasing hormone mRNA expression in the dorsal hypothalamus compared to Ch-Ch rats implying that removal of the palatable diet activated the HPA axis. The results were discussed in terms of the links between palatability of diet, obesity and stress.