Biology subjects

Noel, X.

Publications and source records attributed to Noel, X..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2023

Cue-Induced Drug Seeking and Its Association with Craving and Dependence in Cigarette Smokers

IntroductionIncreased salience of drug-related cues over non-drug reinforcers can drive drug use and contribute to tobacco use disorder (TUD). An important scientific and clinical goal is to effectively measure this elevated drug-seeking behavior in TUD. However, most TUD assessments rely on self-reported cravings and cigarette consumption, not providing an objective measure of the impact of drug-cues on biasing behavior towards drugs. The probabilistic image choice (PIC) task investigates the choice of viewing drug-related pictures as compared to other salient pictures (e.g., pleasant and unpleasant). This study aimed to develop and validate the PIC task for TUD and evaluate the associations between behavioral choice and tobacco craving, daily cigarette consumption, quit attempts and motivation to quit, and nicotine dependence (the Fagerstrom score). MethodsWe recruited 468 smokers and 121 nonsmokers using the Prolific online platform. Participants performed the PIC task twice (at a one-month interval) and completed other measures relevant to TUD. Resultscompared to nonsmokers, tobacco smokers selected to view significantly more tobacco images and less pleasant (non-drug reinforcer) images, a profile that remained stable at retest. Individual differences in choice of tobacco as compared to pleasant images on the PIC task were associated with craving but not with the other tobacco dependence measures, suggesting that the task may serve as a behavioral proxy measure of drug "wanting" rather than of cumulative nicotine exposure or physical dependence. Conclusionsthese results suggest that the PIC task can be a valuable tool for objectively assessing craving-associated tobacco seeking in TUD. Implications section, which should provide a brief description about what the study adds. Most of the current measures of tobacco use disorder (TUD) rely on self-reports of consumption, dependence and craving and do not take into consideration the role of drug-related cues in driving tobacco seeking. This study shows that the probabilistic image choice (PIC) task provides an objective, reliable proxy measure of tobacco image seeking behavior in cigarette smokers that is linked to craving (desire) for smoking but not to other measures of TUD. Therefore, the PIC task may be a useful complementary tool for the classification, diagnosis, and prognosis of TUD.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2022

The modulation of acute stress on Model-Free and Model-Based reinforcement learning in Gambling Disorder

Background and aimsExperiencing acute stress is common in behavioral addictions such as gambling disorder. Additionally, like most substance-induced addictions, aberrant decision-making wherein a reactive habit-induced response (conceptualized as a Model-free [MF] in reinforcement learning) suppresses a flexible goal-directed response (conceptualized as a Model-based [MB]) is also common in gambling disorder. In the current study we investigated the influence of acute stress on the balance between habitual response and the goal-directed system. MethodsA sample of N = 116 pathological gamblers (PG) and healthy controls (HC) performed an acute stress task - the Socially Evaluated Cold pressure task (SECPT) - or a control task. Self-reported stress and salivary cortisol were collected as measures of acute stress. Following the SECPT, participants performed the Two-Step Markov Task to account for the relative contribution of MB and MF strategies. Additionally, verbal working-memory and IQ measures were collected to account for their mediating effects on the orchestration between MB/MF and the impact of stress. ResultsBoth groups had comparable baseline and stress-induced cortisol response to the SECPT. Non-stressed PG displayed lower MB learning than HC. MANOVA and regression analyses showed a deleterious effect of stress-induced cortisol response on the orchestration between MB and MF learning in HC but not in PG. Neither working memory nor IQ mediated these effects. Discussion and ConclusionsDespite normal cortisol response to stress, we found an abnormal pattern of modulation of stress on the orchestration between MB and MF learning among PG.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2020

Novelty-seeking impairment in addiction

As massive amounts of information are becoming available to people understanding the mechanisms underlying information-seeking is more pertinent today than ever. In this study, we investigate the underlying motivations to seek out information in healthy and addicted individuals. We developed a novel decision-making task and a novel computational model which allow to dissociate the relative contribution of two motivating factors to seek out information: a desire for novelty and a desire to reduce uncertainty. To investigate whether/how the motivations to seek out information vary between healthy and addicted individuals, in addition to healthy controls we included a sample of individuals with gambling disorder- a form of addiction without the confound of substance consumption and characterized by compulsive gambling. Our results indicate that healthy subjects and problem gamblers adopt distinct information-seeking "modes". Healthy information-seeking behavior was mostly motivated by a desire for novelty. Problem gamblers, on the contrary, displayed reduced novelty-seeking and an increased desire to reduce uncertainty (general information-seeking) compared to healthy controls. Our findings not only shed new light on the motivations driving healthy and addicted individuals to seek out information, but they also have important implications for treatment and diagnosis of behavioral addiction.

bioinformatics↗