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Contingency Learning in Alcohol Dependence and Pathological Gambling: Learning and Unlearning Reward Contingencies

BACKGROUND: Patients with alcohol dependence (AD) and pathological gambling (PG) are characterized by dysfunctional reward processing and their ability to adapt to alterations of reward contingencies is impaired. However, most neurocognitive tasks investigating reward processing involve a complex mi...

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Autores principales: Vanes, Lucy D, van Holst, Ruth J, Jansen, Jochem M, van den Brink, Wim, Oosterlaan, Jaap, Goudriaan, Anna E
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2014
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4171748/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24821534
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/acer.12393
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author Vanes, Lucy D
van Holst, Ruth J
Jansen, Jochem M
van den Brink, Wim
Oosterlaan, Jaap
Goudriaan, Anna E
author_facet Vanes, Lucy D
van Holst, Ruth J
Jansen, Jochem M
van den Brink, Wim
Oosterlaan, Jaap
Goudriaan, Anna E
author_sort Vanes, Lucy D
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Patients with alcohol dependence (AD) and pathological gambling (PG) are characterized by dysfunctional reward processing and their ability to adapt to alterations of reward contingencies is impaired. However, most neurocognitive tasks investigating reward processing involve a complex mix of elements, such as working memory, immediate and delayed rewards, and risk-taking. As a consequence, it is not clear whether contingency learning is altered in AD or PG. Therefore, the current study aimed to examine performance in a deterministic contingency learning task, investigating discrimination, reversal, and extinction learning. METHODS: Thirty-three alcohol-dependent patients (ADs), 28 pathological gamblers (PGs), and 18 healthy controls (HCs) performed a contingency learning task in which they learned stimulus–reward associations that were first reversed and later extinguished while receiving deterministic feedback throughout. Accumulated points, number of perseverative errors and trials required to reach a criterion in each learning phase were compared between groups using nonparametric Kruskal–Wallis rank-sum tests. Regression analyses were performed to compare learning curves. RESULTS: PGs and ADs did not differ from HCs in discrimination learning, reversal learning, or extinction learning, on the nonparametric tests. Regression analyses, however, showed differences in the initial speed of learning: PGs were significantly faster in discrimination learning compared to ADs, and both PGs and ADs learned slower than HCs in the reversal learning and extinction phases of the task. CONCLUSIONS: Learning rates for reversal and extinction were slower for the alcohol-dependent group and PG group compared to HCs, suggesting that reversing and extinguishing learned contingencies require more effort in ADs and PGs. This implicates a diminished flexibility to overcome previously learned contingencies.
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spelling pubmed-41717482014-10-08 Contingency Learning in Alcohol Dependence and Pathological Gambling: Learning and Unlearning Reward Contingencies Vanes, Lucy D van Holst, Ruth J Jansen, Jochem M van den Brink, Wim Oosterlaan, Jaap Goudriaan, Anna E Alcohol Clin Exp Res Neuroscience BACKGROUND: Patients with alcohol dependence (AD) and pathological gambling (PG) are characterized by dysfunctional reward processing and their ability to adapt to alterations of reward contingencies is impaired. However, most neurocognitive tasks investigating reward processing involve a complex mix of elements, such as working memory, immediate and delayed rewards, and risk-taking. As a consequence, it is not clear whether contingency learning is altered in AD or PG. Therefore, the current study aimed to examine performance in a deterministic contingency learning task, investigating discrimination, reversal, and extinction learning. METHODS: Thirty-three alcohol-dependent patients (ADs), 28 pathological gamblers (PGs), and 18 healthy controls (HCs) performed a contingency learning task in which they learned stimulus–reward associations that were first reversed and later extinguished while receiving deterministic feedback throughout. Accumulated points, number of perseverative errors and trials required to reach a criterion in each learning phase were compared between groups using nonparametric Kruskal–Wallis rank-sum tests. Regression analyses were performed to compare learning curves. RESULTS: PGs and ADs did not differ from HCs in discrimination learning, reversal learning, or extinction learning, on the nonparametric tests. Regression analyses, however, showed differences in the initial speed of learning: PGs were significantly faster in discrimination learning compared to ADs, and both PGs and ADs learned slower than HCs in the reversal learning and extinction phases of the task. CONCLUSIONS: Learning rates for reversal and extinction were slower for the alcohol-dependent group and PG group compared to HCs, suggesting that reversing and extinguishing learned contingencies require more effort in ADs and PGs. This implicates a diminished flexibility to overcome previously learned contingencies. Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2014-06 2014-05-12 /pmc/articles/PMC4171748/ /pubmed/24821534 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/acer.12393 Text en © 2014 The Authors Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of Research Society on Alcoholism. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.
spellingShingle Neuroscience
Vanes, Lucy D
van Holst, Ruth J
Jansen, Jochem M
van den Brink, Wim
Oosterlaan, Jaap
Goudriaan, Anna E
Contingency Learning in Alcohol Dependence and Pathological Gambling: Learning and Unlearning Reward Contingencies
title Contingency Learning in Alcohol Dependence and Pathological Gambling: Learning and Unlearning Reward Contingencies
title_full Contingency Learning in Alcohol Dependence and Pathological Gambling: Learning and Unlearning Reward Contingencies
title_fullStr Contingency Learning in Alcohol Dependence and Pathological Gambling: Learning and Unlearning Reward Contingencies
title_full_unstemmed Contingency Learning in Alcohol Dependence and Pathological Gambling: Learning and Unlearning Reward Contingencies
title_short Contingency Learning in Alcohol Dependence and Pathological Gambling: Learning and Unlearning Reward Contingencies
title_sort contingency learning in alcohol dependence and pathological gambling: learning and unlearning reward contingencies
topic Neuroscience
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4171748/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24821534
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/acer.12393
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