A Conditioned Reinforcement Approach to Improving Self-Control

项目总结 急剧贬值的未来后果与药物滥用和其他令人上瘾的因素密切相关 精神错乱。预防这些障碍可能是通过提高个体延迟满足的能力来实现的， 容忍延误，从而减少冲动的选择。几个实验室已经寻求开发学习- 旨在减少冲动选择的干预措施。我们的实验室开创了一种这样的方法--延迟-- 暴露训练--这已被严格证明能使大鼠的体重显著和持久地减少 冲动的选择。在探索老鼠在延迟暴露训练中学到了什么时，我们发现它们的 对延迟信号刺激的耐受性优于对照组。也就是说，当老鼠被给予一种 有机会按下操纵杆关闭刺激信号，表示推迟一次大的食物奖励，延迟暴露训练 老鼠很少关掉它。相比之下，对照组大鼠经常关闭延迟信号刺激，从而 这表明，对他们来说，刺激是令人厌恶的。对延迟信号刺激也有类似的反感。 在被诊断为ADHD的儿童中，有信号的延误会在学校的儿童中引发问题行为 设置。这项拟议的研究将利用我们的发现，不仅仅是发出延迟信号 刺激不那么令人厌恶。我们建议在脉冲测试之前将该刺激设置为条件强化 选择。实现这一点的巴甫洛夫方法已经得到了很好的证实，但之前没有任何实验试图 在治疗上减少冲动的选择都采用了这些方法。该项目有两个目标。第一，要 评估巴甫洛夫训练、延迟暴露训练和 这些训练技术的组合；所有组与对照组进行比较。第二，评估 巴甫洛夫过程对冲动选择变化的贡献。这将通过以下方式实现 操纵一个影响巴甫洛夫学习的变量(C/t比)。因为巴甫洛夫式的学习 在最佳条件下(即大的C/t比)，我们预计巴甫洛夫训练将被证明更有效和 在减少冲动选择方面比延迟暴露训练更有效。这些发现将加快 在实验室中发现，并将对弹性建设预防产生翻译影响-设计的计划 以减少人类的冲动。重要的是，这些发现将被用作支持非人类和 人类研究探索这些基本的和翻译的含义。

PROJECT SUMMARY Steeply devaluing future consequences is robustly correlated with substance abuse and other addictive disorders. Preventing these disorders might be achieved by improving the individual’s ability to delay gratification, to tolerate delays, and thereby to make fewer impulsive choices. Several labs have sought to develop learning- based interventions designed to reduce impulsive choice. Our lab has pioneered one such method – delay- exposure training – which has been rigorously demonstrated to produce large and lasting reductions in rats’ impulsive choices. While exploring what rats learn during delay-exposure training, we discovered that their tolerance of delay-signaling stimuli was superior to that of control-group rats. That is, when rats were given an opportunity to press a lever to turn off a stimulus signaling a delay to a large food-reward, delay-exposure trained rats rarely turned it off. By contrast, control-group rats frequently turned off the delay-signaling stimulus, thereby demonstrating that, to them, the stimulus was aversive. A similar aversion to delay-signaling stimuli is observed among children diagnosed with ADHD, and signaled delays can induce problem behavior in children in school settings. The proposed research will capitalize on our finding by doing more than just making the delay-signaling stimulus less-aversive. We propose to make that stimulus a conditioned reinforcer prior to the test of impulsive choice. Pavlovian methods for accomplishing this are well established, but no prior experiments seeking to therapeutically reduce impulsive choice have employed these methods. The project has two aims. First, to evaluate the relative short- and long-term efficacy of Pavlovian training, delay-exposure training, and a combination of these training techniques; all groups compared to a control group. Second, to evaluate the contribution of Pavlovian processes to the changes in impulsive choice. This will be accomplished by manipulating a variable which impacts Pavlovian learning (the C/t ratio). Because Pavlovian learning occurs rapidly under optimal conditions (i.e., large C/t ratios) we expect Pavlovian training to prove more efficient and more effective in reducing impulsive choice than delay-exposure training. Such findings will speed the pace of discovery in the lab, and will have translational implications for resiliency building prevention-programs designed to reduce human impulsivity. Importantly, the findings will be used as preliminary data supporting nonhuman and human research exploring these basic and translational implications.