Improving Generalizability of Extinction to Alcohol Cues

描述（由申请人提供）：本项目的最终目标是改善酒精依赖的行为治疗。实验动物和人类研究表明，联想条件反射对饮酒行为的显著影响，导致了对酒精依赖的提示暴露治疗（CET）。这种治疗方法使酒精依赖者长时间接触与饮酒有关的线索，以消除条件反应。反过来，CET试图通过减少对先前关联的线索反应和提高应对技能和自我效能来促进治疗之外的过渡。尽管结果总体上很有希望，但CET因未能纳入当代学习研究而受到批评，这些研究表明，各种因素可能会危及灭绝，即情境依赖学习。同样，最近的动物学习研究已经证明了减少情境依赖学习的方法，例如使用灭绝提醒或多重情境灭绝。本研究试图将后一项发现扩展到人类群体，并评估多重环境暴露是否会增强对酒精线索的灭绝，最终提高酒精依赖的CET。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This project has the ultimate goal of improving behavioral treatment for alcohol dependence. Experimental animal and human research demonstrating the prominent influence of associative conditioning in drinking behavior has given rise to cue exposure treatment (CET) for alcohol dependence. This treatment component exposes individuals with alcohol dependence to cues associated with drinking for prolonged periods to extinguish conditioned responding. In turn, CET attempts to facilitate transition beyond treatment by reducing cue reactivity to previous associations and enhancing both coping skills and self-efficacy. Despite generally promising outcomes, CET has been criticized for failing to incorporate contemporary learning research that suggests various factors that may compromise extinction, namely context-dependent leaming. Equally, recent animal learning research has demonstrated approaches to reduce context-dependent learning, such as the use of an extinction reminder or multiple context extinction. This study attempts to extend this latter finding to a human population and evaluate whether multiple context exposure will enhance extinction to alcohol cues, toward ultimately enhancing CET for alcohol dependence.