BEHAVIORAL ECONOMICS OF CONDITIONED ALCOHOL CUES

与酒精相关的线索会使酗酒者产生渴望， 禁欲后复发。激励-动机账户认为， 提示获得了药物的正激励价值。因此，这些线索可以 其功能类似于药物并维持药物寻求自身（即， 作为条件反射器起作用）。然而，影响 加强药物提示的功效知之甚少，因为 方法上的缺陷。行为经济学提供了一种解释 药物（包括酒精）的强化作用，并可能有助于 理解酒精暗示的条件强化 行为经济学将影响毒品消费的因素与 需求规律：毒品消费量与单位成反比 价格（即，成本/效益比率）。需求法描述了毒品的变化 自我管理发生在单位价格变化产生的变化 响应需求（即，成本）或药物剂量（即，利益）。 行为经济学提供了一个强有力的工具， 药物和酒精依赖，并可能有助于理解加强 酒精的影响。 拟议的研究有助于（1）适应一个程序，已成功地 克服非药物研究中的典型方法学缺陷 条件强化，以克服问题的研究条件 酒精提示的强化作用，（2）使用此程序来检查 酒精暗示的行为经济学在Exp. 1、大鼠会自行给药 酒精在观察反应程序，允许独立的 检查酒精强化的因素， 酒精提示的条件强化实验2和3将使用 观察-反应程序来确定酒精的单价 通过操纵反应来影响酒精暗示的强化功效 酒精含量（Exp。2)或者酒精强化的程度 （实验）3）。 将酒精线索纳入行为经济学很重要，因为 行为经济学在评估和设计 治疗药物滥用。通过这种潜在的整合， 研究可能有助于评估联合行为/药物治疗 以酒精为目标，因此渴望和复发。此外该 适用于这些研究的观察反应程序可能提供一个强大的 研究酒精线索的神经药理学机制的工具。

Cues associated with alcohol produce craving in alcoholics and contribute to relapse following abstinence. Incentive-motivational accounts posit that such cues acquire the positive incentive value of drugs. As such, these cues can function similarly to drugs and maintain drug seeking themselves (i.e., function as conditioned reinforcers). However, factors affecting the reinforcing efficacy of drug cues are poorly understood because of methodological shortcomings. Behavioral economics provides a way to account for the reinforcing effects of drugs (including alcohol) and may contribute to understanding conditioned reinforcement by alcohol cues. Behavioral economics integrates factors affecting drug consumption with the demand law: the quantity of drug consumed is inversely related to its unit price (i.e., cost/benefit ratio). The demand law describes changes in drug self-administration occurring with changes in unit price produced by changes in response requirement (i.e., cost) or drug dose (i.e., benefit). Behavioral economics provides a powerful tool for understanding and treating drug and alcohol dependence and may aid in understanding the reinforcing effects of alcohol cues. The proposed research alms to (1) adapt a procedure that has successfully overcome typical methodological shortcomings in the study of non-drug conditioned reinforcement to overcome problems in the study of the conditioned reinforcing effects of alcohol cues and, (2) use this procedure to examine the behavioral economics of alcohol cues. In Exp. 1, rats will self-administer alcohol in an observing-response procedure which allows the independent examination of factors contributing to reinforcement by alcohol and to conditioned reinforcement by alcohol cues. Exps. 2 and 3 will use the observing-response procedure to determine how the unit price of alcohol affects the reinforcing efficacy of alcohol cues by manipulating the response requirement for alcohol (Exp. 2) or the magnitude of alcohol reinforcement (Exp. 3). Integrating alcohol cues into behavioral economics is important because behavioral economics has demonstrated utility in assessing and devising treatments for drug abuse. With this potential integration, the proposed research may aid in assessing combined behavioral/pharmacological treatments targeting alcohol cues, and therefore craving and relapse. In addition, the observing-response procedure adapted for these studies may provide a powerful tool for investigating the neuropharmacological mechanisms of alcohol cues.