Differences In Cue Reactivity Research Articles

Caudate reactivity to smoking cues is associated with increased responding to monetary reward in nicotine-dependent individuals

Quitting smoking is challenging in part because environmental smoking cues can trigger the desire to smoke. Neurobiological responses to smoking cues are often observed in reward-related brain regions such as the caudate and nucleus accumbens (NAc). While reward plays a well-established role in the formation of cue reactivity, whether general reward responsiveness contributes to individual differences in cue-reactivity among chronic smokers is unclear; establishing such link could provide insight into the mechanisms maintaining cue reactivity. The current study explored this relationship by assessing smoking cue reactivity during functional magnetic imaging followed by an out-of-scanner probabilistic reward task (PRT) in 24 nicotine-dependent smokers (14 women). In addition, owing to sex differences in cue reactivity and reward function, this same relationship was examined as a function of sex. Following recent smoking, greater reward responsiveness on the PRT was associated with enhanced left caudate reactivity to smoking cues. No relationship was found in any other striatal subregion. The positive relationship between reward responsiveness and caudate smoking cue reactivity was significant only in male smokers, fitting with the idea that males and females respond to the reinforcing elements of smoking cues differently. These findings are clinically relevant as they show that, following recent smoking, nicotine-dependent individuals who are more cue reactive are also more likely to be responsive to non-drug rewards, which may be useful for making individualized treatment decisions that involve behavioral reward contingencies.

Differences in Magnitude of Cue Reactivity Across Durations of Smoking History: A Meta-analysis.

Cue-elicited craving may vary due to duration of smoking history, increasing as more years of smoking strengthen associations between nicotine intake and cues. However, research on this relationship is virtually absent. This project assessed the relationship between cue reactivity and years of smoking. Data from 53 studies (68 effect sizes) were analyzed. Eligible studies were those measuring self-reported craving following cue exposure in nontreatment seeking smokers and reporting mean years smoking. Preliminary subgroup analyses identified methodological factors influencing cue-reactivity effect sizes; primary meta-regression analysis assessed differences across years smoking; exploratory analyses assessed potential for ceiling effects. Effect sizes varied due to abstinence requirement and cue presentation modality, but not dependence severity. Unexpectedly, meta-regression analysis revealed a decline in effect sizes across years smoking. Exploratory analyses suggested declines may have been due to a ceiling effect in craving measurement for those with longer smoking histories-more experienced smokers reported higher levels of craving at baseline or following neutral cue exposure, but all reported similar levels of craving after smoking cue exposure. Methodological factors and duration of smoking history influenced measurement of cue reactivity. Highlighted were important relationships between years smoking and magnitude of cue reactivity, depending on use of baseline or neutral cue comparisons. Further research is needed to assess differences in cue reactivity due to duration of smoking history using participant-level data, directly testing for ceiling effects. In addition, cue-reactivity studies are needed across young adults to assess onset of associations between nicotine intake and cues. This meta-analysis project contributes to the cue-reactivity literature by reporting on the previously ignored relationship between duration of smoking history and magnitude of cue-elicited craving. Results suggest that declines in cue-reactivity effect sizes across years of smoking may have been due to study-level methodological factors, but not due to differences in sample-level dependence severity. Cue-reactivity effect sizes were stable across years of smoking in studies using a neutral cue comparison but declined sharply in studies when baseline assessment (typically coupled with an abstinence requirement) was used.

Cue-induced craving to paraphernalia and drug images in opioid dependence.

Stimuli that are repeatedly paired with substance use, such as drug paraphernalia, can themselves elicit drug craving. The aim of this study was to examine whether particular cue types elicit greater craving responses than others among individuals with opioid dependence. Participants seeking inpatient treatment for opioid dependence were recruited for a study of cue-induced craving. This sample (N = 50), included 25 primary heroin users, 20 primary prescription opioid users, and 5 users of heroin and prescription opioids equally. Participants completed a cue reactivity task, in which images of drug-related stimuli were presented on a computer screen, each followed by a question assessing state drug craving. Overall, participants reported higher craving following paraphernalia stimuli relative to drug stimuli. However, this was moderated by opioid type; there was significantly higher craving in response to images of paraphernalia cues in the heroin group, and higher craving in response to drug cues in the prescription opioid group. These findings highlight potential differences in cue reactivity to opioid paraphernalia and drug cues, which appears to be moderated by drug type. Cue-induced craving is an important factor in relapse. This study adds further to the literature on cue-induced craving in opioid dependence, suggesting that craving may vary based on both cue type and opioid type. Future studies designed to discriminate the impact of substance of abuse, route of administration, and cue type will help to further clarify cue-induced craving in this population.

Conditioned Aversion for a Cocaine-Predictive Cue is Associated withCocaine Seeking and Taking in Rats

Rats emit aversive taste reactivity (TR) behavior (i.e., gapes) following intraoral delivery of a cocaine-paired taste cue, and greater conditioned aversive TR in well-trained rats predicts greater drug-taking. Here, we used a between-groups design and tracked the development of this conditioned aversive TR behavior on a trial by trial basis in an effort to determine when the change in behavior occurs and at what point individual differences in cue reactivity become predictive of cocaine-seeking and cocaine-taking. The results demonstrate that conditioned aversive TR to a cocaine-predictive flavor cue appears very early in training (i.e., following as few as 1 to 2 taste-drug pairings), stabilizes quickly, and becomes predictive of terminal self-administration within 3 to 4 trials. Indeed, rats exhibiting high conditioned aversive TR to the cocaine-paired cue also exhibited greater goal-directed behavior, were faster to take drug, self-administered more cocaine, and exhibited greater seeking during periods of drug non-availability. High conditioned aversive TR, then, develops quickly and is associated with a greater motivation for drug.

Higher levels of trait impulsiveness and a less effective response inhibition are linked to more intense cue-elicited craving for alcohol in alcohol-dependent patients

Cue-elicited craving is a well-researched phenomenon in alcohol literature. However, not all alcohol-dependent people display the same reactivity to alcohol cues. Personality factors such as multiple impulsivity traits may be responsible for individual differences in cue reactivity by modulating its intensity. Nevertheless, there has been a scarcity of empirical studies testing this assumption in alcohol literature. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of response inhibition and trait impulsiveness on cue-elicited craving for alcohol in alcohol-dependent drinkers. Participants (n = 41) were inpatients of the private clinic U-Center, Netherlands. Alcohol exposure took place in a real bar-restaurant close to the premises of the clinic, and participants were exposed to real alcohol cues. Response inhibition was assessed with the stop-signal task and trait impulsiveness with the Barratt impulsivity scale version 11. The cue exposure was successful as alcohol-dependent patients experienced higher craving for alcohol when exposed to alcohol rather than to neutral cues. Additionally, both response inhibition and trait impulsiveness predicted cue-elicited craving for alcohol. Trait impulsiveness predicted both the absolute craving in the bar-restaurant and the increase in cue-elicited craving during the whole alcohol cue exposure, while response inhibition predicted only the former. The results clearly implicate both trait impulsiveness and response inhibition in the modulation of cue-elicited craving in alcohol dependence. Theoretical and methodological issues in the findings and their clinical implications in alcohol treatment and relapse are discussed.

Flavour conditioning and alcohol: a multilevel model of individual differences

Previous research shows that dependent drinkers respond more strongly to alcohol-related cues and suggests that alcohol cue-reactivity may be relevant to understanding dependence liability. However, a significant weakness in many studies is the fact that cue-reactivity is studied without actually conditioning subjects; responses to alcohol-related cues are simply assumed to be conditioned responses. The current report attempts to overcome this weakness by studying alcohol cue-reactivity following a flavour-conditioning procedure. A statistical model of individual differences in cue-reactivity was constructed using previous alcohol exposure, alcohol tolerance, and personality as predictor variables. Although there was no evidence for overall differences in subjective and psychophysiological responses to alcohol and soft-drink paired flavours, there were marked individual differences in responding to the different flavours. The statistical model showed that reward sensitivity (high extroversion, high neuroticism), heavier levels of drinking, and higher levels of tolerance to the intoxicating effects of alcohol were associated with lower levels of skin conductance in the presence of alcohol paired flavours.

Individual differences in cue reactivity among smokers trying to quit: effects of gender and cue type

Across studies, when presented with a variety of smoking cues, smokers and ex-smokers evidence distinct patterns of self-reported, physiological, and behavioral reactions. However, few studies have compared more than two different kinds of cues within the same experiment. Furthermore, despite the importance of examining the moderating effect of gender on smoking outcomes, few studies have examined gender differences in smoking cue reactivity. We examined the effect of eight distinct cue manipulations on heart rate, mean arterial pressure, smoking urges, and self-efficacy in a sample of 129 participants (50% female) who had recently quit smoking. Cue manipulations included (a) in vivo exposure, (b) an idiographically designed exposure of subjects’ most recent relapse, (c) an idiographically designed exposure to subjects’ highest risk situation, and (d) affectively valenced standardized scripts depicting situations generally associated with relapse. These manipulations were compared to a standard cognitive stressor (mental arithmetic) and to a resting baseline. Results revealed differences in the degree of reactivity to different manipulations, with in vivo cues producing the greatest changes. Gender differences in reactivity between the type of cues presented were found for mean arterial pressure, with standardized scripts producing greater changes for women. These findings have implications for understanding the reasons for differences in cue reactivity across manipulations and for gender differences in cue reactivity.

Cue reactivity to food- and body-related stimuli in restrained and unrestrained eaters

In the present study, psychophysiological cue reactivity was monitored in 11 restrained (nonclinical but disinhibitive) and 13 unrestrained (control) subjects. The cues consisted of slides depicting either personally “favourite” binge food items or the subject's own body. The parameters monitored included skin conductance, heart rate, startle eyeblink EMG, and facial (corrugator and zygomatic) EMG. Although for several parameters the expected main effect of slide type was found, no between-group differences in cue reactivity could be demonstrated. Several explanations of the present finding, as well as possible future directions for cue reactivity research, are discussed, with emphasis placed upon the role of classical conditioning in eating disorders.