Addressing stigma within the dissemination of research products to improve quality of care for pregnant and parenting people affected by substance use disorder.

Substance use disorders are a common and treatable condition among pregnant and parenting people. Social, self, and structural stigma experienced by this group represent a barrier to harm reduction, treatment utilization, and quality of care. We examine features of research dissemination that may generate or uphold stigmatization at every level for pregnant and parenting individuals affected by substance use disorder and their children. We explore stigma reduction practices within the research community that can increase uptake of evidence-based treatment programs and prevent potential harm related to substance use in pregnant and parenting people. The strategies we propose include: (1) address researcher stereotypes, prejudice, and misconceptions about pregnant and parenting people with substance use disorder; (2) engage in interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary collaborations that engage with researchers who have lived experience in substance use; (3) use community-based approaches and engage community partners, (4) address stigmatizing language in science communication; (5) provide contextualizing information about the social and environmental factors that influence substance use among pregnant and parenting people; and (6) advocate for stigma-reducing policies in research articles and other scholarly products.

Striatal response to negative feedback in a stop signal task operates as a multi-value learning signal.

Background and aim: We examined error-driven learning in fMRI activity of 217 subjects in a stop signal task to obtain a more robust characterization of the relation between behavioral measures of learning and corresponding neural learning signals than previously possible. Methods: The stop signal task is a two-alternative forced choice in which participants respond to an arrow by pressing a left or right button but must inhibit that response on 1 in 7 trials when cued by an auditory "stop signal." We examined post-error learning by comparing brain activity (BOLD signal) and behavioral responses on trials preceded by successful (correct stop) vs. failed (failed stop) inhibition. Results: There was strong evidence of greater bilateral striatal activity in the period immediately following correct (vs. failed) stop trials (most evident in the putamen; peak MNI coordinates [-26 8 -2], 430 voxels, p < 0.001; [24 14 0], 527 voxels, p < 0.001). We measured median activity in the bilateral striatal cluster following every failed stop and correct stop trial and correlated it with learning signals for (a) probability and (b) latency of the stop signal. In a mixed-effects model predicting activity 5-10 s after the stop signal, both reaction time (RT) change (B = -0.05, t = 3.0, χ2 = 11.3, p < 0.001) and probability of stop trial change (B = 1.53, t = 6.0, χ2 = 43.0, p < 0.001) had significant within-subjects effects on median activity. In a similar mixed model predicting activity 1-5 s after the stop signal, only probability of stop trial change was predictive. Conclusions: A mixed-effects model indicates the striatal activity might be a learning signal that encodes reaction time change and the current expected probability of a stop trial occuring. This extends existing evidence that the striatum encodes a reward prediction error signal for learning within the stop signal task, and demonstrates for the first time that this signal seems to encode both change in stop signal probability and in stop signal delay.