Experimental Manipulations of Impulsivity: Effects on Gambling and Drug Taking

描述（由申请人提供）：延迟折扣描述了由于延迟而导致的后果（收益和损失）的贬值。大量文献表明，陡峭的延迟折扣（即，延迟结果的极端贬值）与成瘾性疾病有关，如病态赌博和药物滥用。目前尚待研究的是，实验产生的延迟折扣的变化是否会影响随后的赌博和吸毒。如果降低延迟结果的折扣程度可以减少随后的成瘾活动，那么新的基于折扣的成瘾治疗和预防技术可能会得到有益的追求。在这个新的研究者RO 1中，我们将在大鼠中实验性地操纵延迟折扣。在每个实验中，这将通过将实验组大鼠暴露于延长持续时间的训练方案来实现，该训练方案旨在降低这些大鼠对延迟食物奖励的折扣程度。对照组大鼠将完成相同数量的训练，但不会接受旨在减少折扣的训练。每一种训练方案在急性给药时都对延迟折扣产生了显著影响，但人们对这些方案的持久影响知之甚少，也不知道它们影响随后成瘾相关行为的能力。因此，在评估每种训练方案对延迟折扣的影响后，我们将比较实验大鼠和对照大鼠对赌博样奖励（与可预测的食物来源）和乙醇自我管理的偏好程度。如果实验诱导的延迟折扣的减少也会减少成瘾相关的行为，那么这个项目将对与国家药物滥用研究所的使命相关的基础和应用研究产生重要影响。 公共卫生相关性：大量的经验证据表明，被诊断患有病态赌博和/或物质使用障碍的人比匹配的非赌徒或非吸毒者更急剧地贬低延迟事件。拟议的研究将通过实验减少这种形式的冲动（相对于对照组），并将评估这是否会影响随后的赌博和吸毒活动。实验性地减少冲动，也许还有成瘾行为，与国家药物滥用研究所的公共卫生目标密切相关。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Delay discounting describes the devaluation of consequences (gains and losses) because they are delayed. A large literature indicates that steep delay discounting (i.e., extreme devaluation of delayed outcomes) is correlated with addictive disorders such as pathological gambling and substance abuse. What has yet to be investigated is if experimentally produced changes in delay discounting can affect subsequent gambling and drug taking. If decreasing the degree to which delayed outcomes are discounted decreases subsequent addictive activities, then new discounting-based techniques for the treatment and prevention of addictions might gainfully be pursued. In this New Investigator RO1, we will experimentally manipulate delay discounting in rats. In each experiment this will be accomplished by exposing an experimental group of rats to an extended-duration training regimen designed to decrease the degree to which these rats discount delayed food rewards. A control group of rats will complete the same number of sessions but will not receive the training designed to decrease discounting. Each of the training regimens, when acutely administered, has significantly affected delay discounting, but little is known about the lasting effects of these regimens and nothing is known about their ability to affect subsequent addiction-related behavior. Thus, after the effects of each training regimen on delay discounting are assessed, we will compare experimental and control rats on how strongly they prefer gambling-like rewards (vs. predictable sources of food) and ethanol self administration. If experimentally induced decreases in delay discounting also decrease addiction-related behavior, then this project will have important implications for basic and applied research of relevance to the mission of the National Institute on Drug Abuse. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Considerable empirical evidence has revealed that individuals diagnosed with pathological gambling and/or a substance-use-disorder more steeply devalue delayed events than matched non-gamblers or non-drug-users. The proposed research will experimentally decrease this form of impulsivity (relative to a control group) and will evaluate if this affects subsequent gambling-related and drug-taking activities. Experimentally decreasing impulsivity, and perhaps addictive behavior, is of great relevance to the public-health goals of the National Institute on Drug Abuse.