Decision Neuroscience of Craving
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
Summary
Craving is the strong desire for something, such as for substances in drug addiction and food or other activities in everyday life. Recent work suggests craving can influence how people make decisions and assign value to choice options available to them, yet the neural mechanisms underlying these interactions between craving and valuation remain unknown. To address this, this study uses cognitive decision-making tasks that measure how much individuals will pay (from a study endowment) to have everyday consumer items or snack foods when they crave something specific (opioids or a specific snack, respectively). First, the study will identify the neural mechanisms for how drug craving (craving for opioids) interacts with valuation for consumer items that have associations with drug use or not in people receiving treatment for opioid use disorder (OUD). This will be evaluated in the activity patterns and interactions among brain regions involved in craving and value assignment during decision-making. Then, the study will examine for parallel mechanisms for how food craving (craving for a specific snack) interacts with valuation for snack food items that have similar features to the craved snack or not in people receiving treatment for OUD and non-psychiatric community control participants.
Eligibility
- Age range
- 18+ years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Yes
Inclusion Criteria: * At least 18 years of age * Willingness to follow study requirements, as evidenced by an ability to provide written informed consent and read, understand, and complete the study procedures * Minimum of 6th grade reading level Additional inclusion criteria for participants with OUD: * Primary diagnosis of OUD encompassing heroin and/or painkiller use * Receiving medications for OUD treatment on an outpatient basis * At least 12-month history of opioid use Exclusion Criteria: * Unable to speak or read English * Active psychosis or mania * Current or past schizophrenia d…
Interventions
- BehavioralAudio-visual stimuli (Neutral-Relaxing)
Audio instruction for participant to allow themselves to experience their feelings followed by 3-min passive viewing of images of neutral everyday objects (e.g., tools, dirt) and their use (construction, gardening).
- BehavioralAudio-visual stimuli (Drug)
Audio instruction for participant to allow themselves to experience their feelings followed by 3-min passive viewing of images of drug paraphernalia (e.g., syringe, tourniquet, heroin) and preparation.
- BehavioralAudio-visual stimuli (Non-Food)
Audio instruction for participant to focus their attention on the experimenter followed by 3-min audio-guided viewing of the experimenter opening/unwrapping an everyday object (e.g., box of crayons) and taking out its contents.
- BehavioralAudio-visual stimuli (Food)
Audio instruction for participant to focus their attention on the experimenter followed by 3-min audio-guided viewing of the experimenter opening/unwrapping a snack (e.g., chocolate bar, bag of chips) and taking out its contents.
Location
- Rutgers, The State University of New JerseyPiscataway, New Jersey