RP2: Transfer from goal-directed behavior to stimulus-response habits and its modulation by acute stress in gaming disorder and buying-shopping disorder

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The ability of conditioned stimuli to affect instrumental responding is a robust finding from animal as well as human research and is considered a key factor for the development and maintenance of addictive behaviors. In Internet use disorders, Pavlovian conditioning processes are thought to intensify motivational responses, which can activate instrumental reward seeking. However, there is very limited knowledge on the impact of conditioned cues on instrumental responding and of factors that affect these processes (e.g. acute stress) in individuals with risky or problematic use of specific Internet applications. While there is evidence that acute stress may trigger relapse in addictions, no study to date has investigated the effect of acute stress on the impact of conditioned cues on instrumental responding in individuals at risk for Internet use disorders. The aim of this project is to investigate the impact of conditioned stimuli on instrumental responding and possible effects of acute stress in early stages of gaming disorder and buying-shopping disorder. The project will include four groups (each with 64 participants): individuals with 1) risky use of games, 2) risky use of shopping applications, 3) non-problematic use of games, 4) non-problematic use of shopping applications. After completion of the diagnostics including the experimental and neuropsychological tasks of the core battery, a Pavlovian-Instrumental-Transfer (PIT) paradigm with stimuli and rewards related to gaming or buying-shopping will be used. In the Pavlovian training phase, two neutral stimuli will be paired either with gaming- or with buying-shopping stimuli. In the second phase, participants learn to perform different key presses to achieve gaming- or buying-shopping-related rewards. In the transfer phase, the conditioned stimuli from the Pavlovian training phase will be presented while the instrumental responses can be performed as before. An outcome devaluation will be implemented after the first half of the transfer phase. The role of acute stress will be investigated using the standardized Trier Social Stress Test, which will be administered after acquisition of the conditioned responses and learning of instrumental behavior. Reward expectancy ratings and attention allocation to the different experimental stimuli assessed with an eye-tracker will indicate conditioned responses while response choice and response rate indicate instrumental behavior. RP2 has strong synergies with RP3 and RP6, which will also investigate facets of cue reactivity. Furthermore, RP2 is connected to RP4, which will also address cue reactivity and acute stress. There are also synergies between RP2 and RP5, as both projects will investigate buying-shopping disorder and effects of acute stress.