Contextual processing and its alterations in patients with addictive disorders

Contextual processing is implicated in the pathophysiology of addictive disorders, but the nature of putative deficiencies remains unclear. We assessed some aspects of contextual processing across multimodal experimental procedures with detoxified subjects who were dependent on opioids (n = 18), alc...

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Main Authors: Igor Elman, Dan Ariely, Marina Tsoy-Podosenin, Elena Verbitskaya, Valentina Wahlgren, An-Li Wang, Edwin Zvartau, David Borsook, Evgeny Krupitsky
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2023-09-01
Series:Addiction Neuroscience
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2772392523000433
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author Igor Elman
Dan Ariely
Marina Tsoy-Podosenin
Elena Verbitskaya
Valentina Wahlgren
An-Li Wang
Edwin Zvartau
David Borsook
Evgeny Krupitsky
author_facet Igor Elman
Dan Ariely
Marina Tsoy-Podosenin
Elena Verbitskaya
Valentina Wahlgren
An-Li Wang
Edwin Zvartau
David Borsook
Evgeny Krupitsky
author_sort Igor Elman
collection DOAJ
description Contextual processing is implicated in the pathophysiology of addictive disorders, but the nature of putative deficiencies remains unclear. We assessed some aspects of contextual processing across multimodal experimental procedures with detoxified subjects who were dependent on opioids (n = 18), alcohol- (n = 20), both opioids and alcohol (n = 22) and healthy controls (n = 24) using a) facial- and b) emotionally laden images; c) gambling task and d) sucrose solutions. Healthy subjects displayed consistent response pattern throughout all categories of the presented stimuli. As a group, dependent subjects rated (i.e., valuated) attractive and average faces respectively more and less attractive in comparison to controls. Dependent subjects' motivational effort, measured in the units of computer keypress to determine the attractive faces' viewing time, accorded the valuational context but was diminished relatively to the average faces’ valuation. Dependent subjects’ motivational effort for pleasant and aversive images respectively mirrored the attractive and average faces; their neutral images’ motivational effort was incongruent with the valuational context framed by the intermixed images. Also, dependent subjects’ emotional responses to counterfactual comparisons of gambling outcomes were unmatched by the riskiness context. Moreover, dependent subjects failed to show greater liking of sweet solutions that normally accompanies low sweetness perceptual context indicative of higher sucrose concentration needed for maximal hedonic experience. Consistent differences among the dependent groups (opioid vs. alcohol vs. comorbid) on the above procedures were not observed. The present findings suggest that opioid and/or alcohol dependence may be associated with amplified hedonic and motivational valuation of pleasant stimuli and with a disrupted link between behavioral/emotional responsivity and contextual variations. Further research is warranted to unravel the distinctive features of contextual processing in opioid- vis-à-vis alcohol addiction and how these features may interrelate in comorbid conditions.
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spelling doaj.art-b2e411decba24038a5c52376529a2a202023-06-18T05:04:05ZengElsevierAddiction Neuroscience2772-39252023-09-017100100Contextual processing and its alterations in patients with addictive disordersIgor Elman0Dan Ariely1Marina Tsoy-Podosenin2Elena Verbitskaya3Valentina Wahlgren4An-Li Wang5Edwin Zvartau6David Borsook7Evgeny Krupitsky8Deparment of Psychiatry, Cambridge Health Alliance, Harvard Medical School, Cambridge, MA, United States of America; Corresponding author.Duke's Fuqua School of Business, Duke University, Durham, NC, United States of AmericaLaboratory of Clinical Psychopharmacology of Addictions, St.-Petersburg First Pavlov State Medical University, Russia; Department of Psychiatry, Stony Brook University Hospital, New York, United States of AmericaLaboratory of Clinical Psychopharmacology of Addictions, St.-Petersburg First Pavlov State Medical University, RussiaLaboratory of Clinical Psychopharmacology of Addictions, St.-Petersburg First Pavlov State Medical University, RussiaAddiction Institute of Mount Sinai, Department of Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, United States of AmericaLaboratory of Clinical Psychopharmacology of Addictions, St.-Petersburg First Pavlov State Medical University, RussiaDepartment of Psychiatry and Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States of AmericaLaboratory of Clinical Psychopharmacology of Addictions, St.-Petersburg First Pavlov State Medical University, Russia; Department of Addictions, V.M. Bekhterev National Medical Research Center for Psychiatry and Neurology, St. Petersburg, RussiaContextual processing is implicated in the pathophysiology of addictive disorders, but the nature of putative deficiencies remains unclear. We assessed some aspects of contextual processing across multimodal experimental procedures with detoxified subjects who were dependent on opioids (n = 18), alcohol- (n = 20), both opioids and alcohol (n = 22) and healthy controls (n = 24) using a) facial- and b) emotionally laden images; c) gambling task and d) sucrose solutions. Healthy subjects displayed consistent response pattern throughout all categories of the presented stimuli. As a group, dependent subjects rated (i.e., valuated) attractive and average faces respectively more and less attractive in comparison to controls. Dependent subjects' motivational effort, measured in the units of computer keypress to determine the attractive faces' viewing time, accorded the valuational context but was diminished relatively to the average faces’ valuation. Dependent subjects’ motivational effort for pleasant and aversive images respectively mirrored the attractive and average faces; their neutral images’ motivational effort was incongruent with the valuational context framed by the intermixed images. Also, dependent subjects’ emotional responses to counterfactual comparisons of gambling outcomes were unmatched by the riskiness context. Moreover, dependent subjects failed to show greater liking of sweet solutions that normally accompanies low sweetness perceptual context indicative of higher sucrose concentration needed for maximal hedonic experience. Consistent differences among the dependent groups (opioid vs. alcohol vs. comorbid) on the above procedures were not observed. The present findings suggest that opioid and/or alcohol dependence may be associated with amplified hedonic and motivational valuation of pleasant stimuli and with a disrupted link between behavioral/emotional responsivity and contextual variations. Further research is warranted to unravel the distinctive features of contextual processing in opioid- vis-à-vis alcohol addiction and how these features may interrelate in comorbid conditions.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2772392523000433HeroinAlcoholSucroseRewardAversionMotivation
spellingShingle Igor Elman
Dan Ariely
Marina Tsoy-Podosenin
Elena Verbitskaya
Valentina Wahlgren
An-Li Wang
Edwin Zvartau
David Borsook
Evgeny Krupitsky
Contextual processing and its alterations in patients with addictive disorders
Addiction Neuroscience
Heroin
Alcohol
Sucrose
Reward
Aversion
Motivation
title Contextual processing and its alterations in patients with addictive disorders
title_full Contextual processing and its alterations in patients with addictive disorders
title_fullStr Contextual processing and its alterations in patients with addictive disorders
title_full_unstemmed Contextual processing and its alterations in patients with addictive disorders
title_short Contextual processing and its alterations in patients with addictive disorders
title_sort contextual processing and its alterations in patients with addictive disorders
topic Heroin
Alcohol
Sucrose
Reward
Aversion
Motivation
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2772392523000433
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