Effect of Social Isolation on the Role of Pavlovian Mechanisms for Control Over Alcohol Use

Summary

During the first funding period (1st FP) we investigated the impact of acute and chronic stress (Trier Social Stress Test, TSST) on Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer (PIT). Moreover, we developed a novel full transfer task that allows assessing both general and specific PIT to investigate whether specific PIT differs between alcohol use disorder (AUD) and control subjects. We found that our online version of TSST induced stress and thereby amplified PIT effects in participants. Preliminary analyses of the full transfer task indicate that AUD participants exhibit a stronger specific PIT effect compared to controls. Based on these findings, we want to assess the following aim for this study:

Investigate the effect of experimentally induced social exclusion on alcohol-specific and general PIT effects in AUD and control participants.

Conditions

• Alcohol Use Disorder
• Alcoholism
• Stress Reaction
• Ostracism
• Substance Use Disorders

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

PIT paradigm

The paradigm consists of four parts: In the first part, an instrumental learning task is completed in which subjects must learn which stimuli require a response and which do not. In the second part, a classical (Pavlovian) conditioning task is then completed in which subjects learn by passive viewing which stimuli are associated with certain amounts of money. The third part measures to which instrumental responses (learned in Part 1) are modulated by the presentation of the classically conditioned stimuli (learned in Part 2). At the same time drug-associated stimuli are presented in the background measuring to which extent they conflict with the learned instrumental behavior. In the last part, query trials are implemented in which the participants have to choose between two pictures to assess the relative cue value.

BEHAVIORAL

social exclusion (Cyberball task)

Social exclusion will be assessed using the cyberball paradigm: subjects will play an online game tossing a ball to each other with two more virtual co-players. Using a cover story, we make subjects believe that the co-players really exist and that they play a live online game. During social exclusion, subjects will be systematically excluded by one co-player, and during social inclusion, ball tosses will be balanced between all three players.

DIAGNOSTIC_TEST

Saliva samples

Assessing acute stress effects in AUD and HC subjects

DIAGNOSTIC_TEST

basic psychological assessment

* Sociodemographics * ASSIST * Quantity Frequency: Alcohol, tobacco/e-cigarette, Cannabis \& other illegal drugs * SCID: AUD criteria and tabak use disorder life time and last year \& acute depressive symptoms \& symptoms for Mania and psychotic disorder * Edinburgh Handedness Inventory (EHI) * Fagerström Test for Nicotine depend (FTND) * Barratt Impulsiveness Scale - Kurzversion (BIS-15) * Allgemeine Depressionsskala (ADS) * State-Trait-Anxiety Inventory (STAI-T) * Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) * Cannabis Use Disorder Identification Test (CUDIT) * CAS -A (Alkohol) * Fragebogen zur Sozialen Unterstützung (F-SozU K-14) * Oslo-3-Items-Social-Support Scale * Social Skills Rating System (SSRS) * Trier Inventory for chronic stress (TICS) * Rejection Sensitivity Questionnaires (RSQ-9) * Need to belong scale (NTBS) * Fragebogen zu Gedanken und Gefühlen (FGG-14) * Internationale Trauma Questionnaire (ITQ) * Zahlen-Symbol-Test (DST) * Wortschatztest (verbal intelligence)

DIAGNOSTIC_TEST

pre and post cyberball task

Positive and Negative Affect Schedule(PANAS)

DIAGNOSTIC_TEST

VAS

subjective arousal, subjective stress, valence, perceived ostracisms/loneliness

DIAGNOSTIC_TEST

after cyberball task

* Need Threat Scale * Manipulation check (VAS scale)

BEHAVIORAL

social inclusion (Cyberball task)

Social inclusion will be assessed using the cyberball paradigm: subjects will play an online game tossing a ball to each other with two more virtual co-players. Using a cover story, we make subjects believe that the co-players really exist and that they play a live online game. During social inclusion, ball tosses will be balanced between all three players.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Heidelberg University

  collaborator OTHER

• Zentralinstitut für Seelische Gesundheit Mannheim

  collaborator OTHER

• Technische Universität Dresden

  collaborator OTHER

• Charite University, Berlin, Germany

  lead OTHER

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

OTHER

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Max Age

65 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2024-10-01

Primary Completion

2027-06-30

Completion

2027-06-30

Countries

• Germany

Study Locations