THE EFFECTS OF TRAIT SENSITIVITY TO POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE FEEDBACK ON TRANSITION FROM RECREATIONAL TO COMPULSIVE ALCOHOL DRINKING IN RATS.
Abstract
Objectives
In this study, we investigated the theoretical claim that sensitivity to negative and positive feedback as a stable and enduring cognitive trait can predict subsequent vulnerability to the development of compulsive alcohol consumption in rats.
Methods
For this purpose, we initially trained and tested the animals in a series of probabilistic reversal learning tests, and based on this “feedback sensitivity screening”, we classified each rat as insensitive or sensitive to negative and positive feedback. Subsequently, in the intermittent access two-bottle choice paradigm, we measured the consumption of alcohol in the animals classified as described above. In the next step, using the instrumental second-order chained schedule of the alcohol reinforcement task, we examined the influence of insensitivity/sensitivity to negative and positive feedback on the development of compulsive alcohol-seeking behavior. Subsequently, we also measured how trait sensitivity to feedback affects the extinction of alcohol-seeking and the reinstatement of this behavior following a period of abstinence.
Results
The results of our study demonstrated, for the first time, that trait sensitivity to feedback might determine the vulnerability of rats to the development of compulsive alcohol seeking and propensity to extinguish alcohol-seeking behaviors following termination of alcohol availability.
Conclusions
As demonstrated by the animal model, trait sensitivity to feedback can interact with the trajectory of the development of compulsive alcohol drinking, and perhaps could be considered as a cognitive biomarker of vulnerability to the development of addiction.
This work was supported by the Polish National Science Centre (Research grant 2018/31/B/NZ7/03690 to RR).
