Role of Pavlovian Mechanisms for Control Over Substance Use

Summary

During the first funding period (1st FP), the investigators developed a novel full Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer (PIT) task that allows assessing both, general and specific PIT to investigate whether specific PIT differs between alcohol use disorder (AUD) and control subjects. Preliminary analyses of the full transfer task indicate that AUD participants exhibit a stronger specific PIT effect compared to controls. Based on these findings, the investigators want to compare specific and general PIT effects in patients with moderate to severe substance use disorders (alcohol, cannabis, methamphetamine, amphetamine and cocaine) to healthy controls on the behavioral and neural level (fMRI).

Conditions

• Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD)
• Alcoholism
• Substance Use Disorders
• Cannabis Use Disorder
• Methamphetamine-dependence
• Amphetamine Use Disorder
• Cocaine Use Disorder

Interventions

BIOLOGICAL

fMRI imaging (BOLD)

Will be used to investigate neural correlates of Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer (PIT) effects by measuring the blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) response of neural activation in the mesolimbic system.

BIOLOGICAL

sMRI (structure)

Will be used to investigate neural correlates of PIT effects by identifying abnormalities in cortical gray and white matter volume.

BEHAVIORAL

Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer (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.

DIAGNOSTIC_TEST

Basic psychological assessment (interview)

* Alcohol, Smoking and Substance Involvement Screening Test (ASSIST) * Quantity Frequency: Alcohol, Cannabis, (Meth-) Amphetamine, Cocaine) * SCID: AUD and SUD (Cannabis, Methamphetamine, Amphetamine, Cocaine) criteria and last year \& depressive symptoms \& symptoms for Mania and psychotic disorder (acute and lifetime) MiniDIPS psychotic disorders

DIAGNOSTIC_TEST

Basic psychological assessment (questionnaires)

* Sociodemographics * 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 and STAI-S) * Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale (ASRS) * Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) * CAS -A (Alkohol) * Cannabis Use Disorders Identification Test (CUDIT) * Fragebogen zu Gedanken und Gefühle 14 Items (FGG-14) * Fragebogen zur Sozialen Unterstützung (F-SozU-K14) * Trierer Inventar zum chronischen Stress (TICS) * Oslo 3-Items-Social-Support Scale (Oslo-3) * Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS) * International Trauma Questionnaire (ITQ) * Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS)

BEHAVIORAL

Neuropsychological tests

* Digit-Symbol-Test (DST) * Digit Span Task * Value-based decision-making task (VBDM)

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Charite University, Berlin, Germany

  collaborator OTHER

• Central Institute of Mental Health, Mannheim

  collaborator OTHER

• Technische Universität Dresden

  lead OTHER

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Max Age

65 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2024-08-05

Primary Completion

2027-06-30

Completion

2027-06-30

Countries

• Germany

Study Locations