Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Otto-Friedrich-University of Bamberg, Markusplatz 3, 96047, Bamberg, Germany.
Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany.
Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2020 Aug;237(8):2305-2316. doi: 10.1007/s00213-020-05534-8. Epub 2020 Jun 6.
The ability of conditioned stimuli to affect instrumental responding is a robust finding from animal as well as human research and is assumed as a key factor regarding the development and maintenance of addictive behaviour.
While it is well known that stress is an important factor for relapse after treatment, little is known about the impact of stress on conditioned substance-associated stimuli and their influence on instrumental responding.
We administered in the present study a Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer (PIT) paradigm with stimuli associated with smoking- and chocolate-related rewards using points in a token economy to light to moderate smokers who also indicated to like eating chocolate. After completion of the first two phases of the PIT paradigm (i.e. Pavlovian training and instrumental trainings), participants were randomly allocated to the socially evaluated cold pressor test or a control condition before the final phase of the PIT paradigm, the transfer phase, was administered.
The presentation of a smoking-related stimulus enhanced instrumental responding for a smoking-related reward (i.e. 'smoking-PIT' effect) and presentation of a chocolate-related stimulus for a chocolate-related reward (i.e. 'chocolate-PIT' effect) in participants aware of the experimental contingencies as indicated by expectancy ratings. However, acute stress did not change (i.e. neither enhanced nor attenuated) the 'smoking-PIT' effect or the 'chocolate-PIT' effect, and no overall effect of acute stress on tobacco choice was observed in aware participants.
The established role of stress in addiction appears not to be driven by an augmenting effect on the ability of drug stimuli to promote drug-seeking.
条件刺激影响工具性反应的能力是动物和人类研究中的一个强有力的发现，被认为是成瘾行为发展和维持的关键因素。
虽然众所周知，压力是治疗后复发的一个重要因素，但对于压力对条件性物质相关刺激的影响及其对工具性反应的影响知之甚少。
我们在目前的研究中使用代币经济中的点数，对轻度至中度吸烟者进行了与吸烟和巧克力相关奖励相关的刺激的条件性到工具性转移（PIT）范式，这些吸烟者也表示喜欢吃巧克力。在完成 PIT 范式的前两个阶段（即条件性训练和工具性训练）后，参与者被随机分配到社会评价性冷加压试验或对照条件下，然后进行 PIT 范式的最后一个阶段，即转移阶段。
呈现与吸烟相关的刺激增强了与吸烟相关的奖励的工具性反应（即“吸烟-PIT”效应），呈现与巧克力相关的刺激增强了与巧克力相关的奖励的工具性反应（即“巧克力-PIT”效应），这表明参与者在实验条件下有预期的作用。然而，急性应激并没有改变（即既没有增强也没有减弱）“吸烟-PIT”效应或“巧克力-PIT”效应，在有意识的参与者中也没有观察到急性应激对烟草选择的总体影响。
压力在成瘾中的既定作用似乎不是由药物刺激促进药物寻求的能力增强引起的。
