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Article

Development of Novel Tasks to Assess Outcome-Specific and General Pavlovian-to-Instrumental Transfer in Humans

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Citation

Belanger MJ, Chen H, Hentschel A, Garbusow M, Ebrahimi C, Knorr FG, Zech HG, Pilhatsch M, Heinz A & Smolka MN (2022) Development of Novel Tasks to Assess Outcome-Specific and General Pavlovian-to-Instrumental Transfer in Humans. Neuropsychobiology, 81 (5), pp. 370-386. https://doi.org/10.1159/000526774

Abstract
Introduction The emergence of Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer (PIT) research in the human neurobehavioral domain has been met with increased interest over the past two decades. A variety of PIT tasks were developed during this time; while successful in demonstrating transfer phenomena, existing tasks have limitations that should be addressed. Herein, we introduce two PIT paradigms designed to assess outcome specific and general PIT within the context of addiction. Materials and Methods The single-lever PIT task, based on an established paradigm, replaced button presses with joystick motion to better assess avoidance behavior. The full transfer task uses alcohol and nonalcohol rewards associated with Pavlovian cues and instrumental responses, along with other gustatory and monetary rewards. We constructed mixed-effects models with the addition of other statistical analyses as needed to interpret various behavioral measures. Results Single-lever PIT: both versions were successful in eliciting a PIT effect (joystick: p < 0.001, ηp2 = 0.36, button-box: p < 0.001, ηp2 = 0.30). Full transfer task: it was determined that the alcohol and nonalcoholic reward cues selectively primed their respective reward-associated responses (gustatory version: p < 0.001, r = 0.59, and monetary version: p < 0.001, r = 0.84). The appetitive/aversive cues resulted in a general transfer effect (gustatory: p < 0.001, ηp2 = 0.09, and monetary: p < 0.001, ηp2 = 0.17). Discussion/Conclusion Single-lever PIT: PIT was observed in both task versions. We posit that the use of a joystick is more advantageous for the analysis of avoidance behavior. It evenly distributes movement between approach and avoid trials, which is relevant to analyzing fMRI data. Full transfer task: While gustatory conditioning has been used in the past to elicit transfer effects, we present the first paradigm that successfully elicits both specific and general transfers in humans with gustatory alcohol rewards.

Keywords
Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer; Specific Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer; General Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer; Appetitive conditioning; Approach-avoidance; Reward; Gustatory reward; Full transfer

Journal
Neuropsychobiology: Volume 81, Issue 5

StatusPublished
Funders, and
Publication date31/12/2022
Publication date online30/11/2022
Date accepted by journal14/08/2022
PublisherS. Karger AG
ISSN0302-282X
eISSN1423-0224

People (1)

Dr Mateus Nascimento

Dr Mateus Nascimento

Lecturer in Substance Use, Salvation Army Centre for Addiction Services & Research

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