Behavioral Momentum of Alcohol Self-Administration

描述（由申请人提供）：药物和酒精寻求的持续性是药物滥用和依赖治疗中的一个关键问题。药物线索在当前的成瘾理论中占有突出地位，并被认为在寻求药物和复吸的持续性中发挥作用。由于药物服用是操作性行为，基于操作性条件反射的药物自我给药的动物模型在研究生物和环境变量如何促进药物寻求和复发方面是有用的。在面对干扰时操作性行为持续性研究的方法和理论发展可能会为药物维持反应的持续性提供进一步的见解。行为动量理论提供了一套方法和一个定量的理论，说明在刺激存在的情况下，强化条件如何影响行为的持久性。基于行为动量理论的预测，我们发现，在刺激存在的情况下，酒精寻求的持续性取决于该刺激中可用的所有药物（包括药物和非药物），即使其中一些药物会干扰药物寻求。因此，可能有必要考虑所有的强化来源（即，药物和非药物）与药物线索相关，以了解该线索对药物寻求持续性的影响。行为动量理论的方法和定量理论框架的进一步扩展可能会提供重要的见解药物线索存在下的药物寻求的持久性。此外，由于药物线索似乎在复发中发挥作用，行为动量理论的复发动物模型的扩展可能会提供深入了解如何在药物线索的存在下，强化的背景下有助于复发。拟议的研究旨在：1）进一步检查替代非药物抑制剂对酒精自我给药持续性的影响; 2）检查将行为动力提供的对改变的抵抗的定量解释扩展到酒精自我给药的效用;以及3）将行为动力扩展到复发的动物模型。继续审查这些问题是重要的，因为持续寻求毒品是吸毒和酗酒的一个决定性特征。更好地了解药物线索如何影响药物寻求的持久性，可能会提出新的行为干预措施，旨在减少暴露于这些线索的影响。这个项目对公共卫生很重要，因为它将有助于了解使药物和酒精滥用如此持久的因素。该项目的发现可能会提出新的行为治疗方法，旨在减少药物和酒精滥用的持续性并防止复发。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The persistence of drug and alcohol seeking is a critical issue in the treatment of substance abuse and dependence. Drug cues figure prominently in current theories of addiction and are thought to play a role in the persistence of drug seeking and relapse. Because drug taking is operant behavior, animal models of drug self-administration based on operant conditioning have been useful in examining how biological and environmental variables contribute to drug seeking and relapse. Methodological and theoretical developments in the study of the persistence of operant behavior in the face of disruption may provide further insights into to the persistence of drug-maintained responding. Behavioral momentum theory provides a set of methods and a quantitative theory of how reinforcement conditions affect the persistence of behavior in the presence of a stimulus. Based on a prediction of behavioral momentum theory, we have found that the persistence of alcohol seeking in the presence of a stimulus depends on all the reinforcers (both drug and non-drug) available in that stimulus, even if some of those reinforcers interfere with drug-seeking. Thus, it may be necessary to consider all of the sources of reinforcement (i.e., drug and non-drug) associated with a drug cue to understand the impact of that cue on the persistence of drug seeking. Further extensions of the methods and quantitative theoretical framework of behavioral momentum theory may provide important insights into the persistence of drug seeking in the presence of drug cues. In addition, because drug cues appear to play a role in relapse, extensions of behavioral momentum theory to an animal model of relapse may provide insights into how the context of reinforcement contributes to relapse in the presence of drug cues. The proposed research aims to: 1) Further examine the effects of alternative non-drug reinforcers on the persistence of alcohol self-administration; 2) Examine the utility of extending the quantitative account of resistance to change provided by behavioral momentum to alcohol self-administration; and 3) Extend behavioral momentum to an animal model of relapse. Continued examination of these issues is important because the persistence of drug seeking is one of the defining features of drug and alcohol abuse. A better understanding of how drug cues impact the persistence of drug seeking may suggest novel behavioral interventions targeted at reducing the impact of exposure to such cues. This project is important to public health because it will help provide an understanding of the factors that make drug and alcohol abuse so persistent. Findings from this project may suggest novel behavioral treatments targeted at reducing the persistence of drug and alcohol abuse and preventing relapse.