Abstract
Neuroeconomic theories propose changes in decision making drive relapse in recovering drug addicts, resulting in continued drug use despite stated wishes not to. Such conflict is thought to arise from multiple valuation systems dependent on separable neural components, yet many neurobiology of addiction studies employ only simple tests of value. Here, we tested in mice how prolonged abstinence from different drugs affects behavior in a neuroeconomic foraging task that reveals multiple tests of value. Abstinence from repeated cocaine and morphine disrupts separable decision-making processes. Cocaine alters deliberation-like behavior prior to choosing a preferred though economically unfavorable offer, while morphine disrupts re-evaluations after rapid initial decisions. These findings suggest that different drugs have long-lasting effects precipitating distinct decision-making vulnerabilities. Our approach can guide future refinement of decision-making behavioral paradigms and highlights how grossly similar behavioral maladaptations may mask multiple underlying, parallel, and dissociable processes that treatments for addiction could potentially target.
Highlights
Neuroeconomic theories propose changes in decision making drive relapse in recovering drug addicts, resulting in continued drug use despite stated wishes not to
Time spent choosing in the offer zone, waiting in the wait zone, and remaining at the reward site after receiving food all detracts from time spent making other decisions elsewhere
We calculated offer zone thresholds of willingness to enter as a function of offered delay (Fig. 1e, Supplementary Fig. 2), and found higher thresholds in more-preferred restaurants compared to less-preferred restaurants (Fig. 1e, f)
Summary
Neuroeconomic theories propose changes in decision making drive relapse in recovering drug addicts, resulting in continued drug use despite stated wishes not to Such conflict is thought to arise from multiple valuation systems dependent on separable neural components, yet many neurobiology of addiction studies employ only simple tests of value. Cocaine alters deliberation-like behavior prior to choosing a preferred though economically unfavorable offer, while morphine disrupts re-evaluations after rapid initial decisions These findings suggest that different drugs have long-lasting effects precipitating distinct decision-making vulnerabilities. Morphine-abstinent mice displayed impairments in foraging reevaluative processes in the wait zone when correcting poor snap judgements Together, these data demonstrate how drugs of abuse can give rise to lasting dysfunctions in fundamentally distinct decision-making valuation algorithms and suggest that individualized treatments tailored to computation-specific processes might ameliorate heterogeneous addiction subtypes
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