Enhanced conditioned “liking” of novel visual cues paired with alcohol or non-alcohol beverage container images among individuals at higher risk for alcohol use disorder

Rationale/Objective This study used an evaluative conditioning (EC) procedure to assess the affective properties of a CS for ingested drug reward in humans. Specifically, the study tested whether the evaluative response (“liking”/”disliking”) to an arbitrary visual stimulus (“CS 2 ,” e.g., a purple...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Psychopharmacology 2022-11, Vol.239 (11), p.3567-3578
Main Authors: Cofresí, Roberto U., Piasecki, Thomas M., Bartholow, Bruce D., Schachtman, Todd R.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Alcohol Drinking - psychology
Alcohol use
Alcoholic beverages
Alcoholism
Beverages
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Biomedicine
Conditioned stimulus
Conditioning, Classical
Cues
Drug use
Ethanol - pharmacology
Female
Humans
Male
Neurosciences
Original Investigation
Pharmacology/Toxicology
Psychiatry
Reinforcement
Visual stimuli
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Summary:Rationale/Objective This study used an evaluative conditioning (EC) procedure to assess the affective properties of a CS for ingested drug reward in humans. Specifically, the study tested whether the evaluative response (“liking”/”disliking”) to an arbitrary visual stimulus (“CS 2 ,” e.g., a purple hexagon) could be changed through pairings with an alcohol or non-alcohol beverage cue (“CS 1 ,” e.g., a full wine glass, a juice box), which is ostensibly a conditioned visual predictive stimulus for alcohol or non-alcohol liquid reward, respectively. Methods Participants ( N  = 369, 18–23 years, 66% female, 79% white, 21% reporting no alcohol use ever or in the past year) received 24 CS 1 pairings with each CS 2 . CS 2 and CS 1 evaluations were assessed pre- and post-conditioning. Results Alcohol and non-alcohol CS 2 “liking” correlated with alcohol use. “Liking” of the alcohol but not non-alcohol CS 1 also correlated with alcohol use. Alcohol CS 1 “liking” also correlated with alcohol and non-alcohol CS 2 ‘liking,” whereas non-alcohol CS 1 ‘liking” correlated with non-alcohol but not alcohol CS 2 “liking.” Conclusions Taken together, findings support the idea that drug-related visual stimuli acquire appetitive (hedonic and/or incentive) properties as a function of individual differences in drug use, which entail individual differences in exposure to the conditioning effects of addictive substances like alcohol. Findings also suggest a link between drug use and the propensity to attribute affective/motivational significance to reward-predictive cues in general.
ISSN:0033-3158
1432-2072
DOI:10.1007/s00213-022-06231-4