11 research outputs found
Addiction Research Consortium: Losing and regaining control over drug intake (ReCoDe)âFrom trajectories to mechanisms and interventions
One of the major risk factors for global death and disability is alcohol, tobacco, and illicit drug use. While there is increasing knowledge with respect to individual factors promoting the initiation and maintenance of substance use disorders (SUDs), disease trajectories involved in losing and regaining control over drug intake (ReCoDe) are still not well described. Our newly formed German Collaborative Research Centre (CRC) on ReCoDe has an interdisciplinary approach funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) with a 12-year perspective. The main goals of our research consortium are (i) to identify triggers and modifying factors that longitudinally modulate the trajectories of losing and regaining control over drug consumption in real life, (ii) to study underlying behavioral, cognitive, and neurobiological mechanisms, and (iii) to implicate mechanism-based interventions. These goals will be achieved by: (i) using mobile health (m-health) tools to longitudinally monitor the effects of triggers (drug cues, stressors, and priming doses) and modify factors (eg, age, gender, physical activity, and cognitive control) on drug consumption patterns in real-life conditions and in animal models of addiction; (ii) the identification and computational modeling of key mechanisms mediating the effects of such triggers and modifying factors on goal-directed, habitual, and compulsive aspects of behavior from human studies and animal models; and (iii) developing and testing interventions that specifically target the underlying mechanisms for regaining control over drug intake
Reversal learning strategy in adolescence is associated with prefrontal cortex activation
Adolescence is a critical maturation period for human cognitive control and executive function. In this study, a large sample of adolescents (n = 85) performed a reversal learning task during functional magnetic resonance imaging. We analyzed behavioral data using a reinforcement learning model to provide individually fitted parameters and imaging data with regard to reward prediction errors (PE). Following a model-based approach, we formed two groups depending on whether individuals tended to update expectations predominantly for the chosen stimulus or also for the unchosen one. These groups significantly differed in their problem behavior score obtained using the child behavior checklist (CBCL) and in a measure of their developmental stage. Imaging results showed that dorsolateral striatal areas covaried with PE. Participants who relied less on learning based on task structure showed less prefrontal activation compared with participants who relied more on task structure. An exploratory analysis revealed that PE-related activity was associated with pubertal development in prefrontal areas, insula and anterior cingulate. These findings support the hypothesis that the prefrontal cortex is implicated in mediating flexible goal-directed behavioral control
Addiction Research Consortium: Losing and regaining control over drug intake (ReCoDe)-From trajectories to mechanisms and interventions
One of the major risk factors for global death and disability is alcohol, tobacco, and illicit drug use. While there is increasing knowledge with respect to individual factors promoting the initiation and maintenance of substance use disorders (SUDs), disease trajectories involved in losing and regaining control over drug intake (ReCoDe) are still not well described. Our newly formed German Collaborative Research Centre (CRC) on ReCoDe has an interdisciplinary approach funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) with a 12-year perspective. The main goals of our research consortium are (i) to identify triggers and modifying factors that longitudinally modulate the trajectories of losing and regaining control over drug consumption in real life, (ii) to study underlying behavioral, cognitive, and neurobiological mechanisms, and (iii) to implicate mechanism-based interventions. These goals will be achieved by: (i) using mobile health (m-health) tools to longitudinally monitor the effects of triggers (drug cues, stressors, and priming doses) and modify factors (eg, age, gender, physical activity, and cognitive control) on drug consumption patterns in real-life conditions and in animal models of addiction; (ii) the identification and computational modeling of key mechanisms mediating the effects of such triggers and modifying factors on goal-directed, habitual, and compulsive aspects of behavior from human studies and animal models; and (iii) developing and testing interventions that specifically target the underlying mechanisms for regaining control over drug intake
What Characterizes Adolescents Struggling With Educational DecisionâMaking?
Educational decisionâmaking is a complex process where individual factors such as how adolescents think about and evaluate themselves could play an important role. In this study, (N = 84), we combined behavioral and neural correlates of selfâconcept and selfâesteem to examine what characterizes adolescents who struggle with educational decisionâmaking. We included 38 adolescents (16â24 years, M = 18.7 years) from âthe GapâYear program.â This program focuses on personal development for adolescents who have dropped out of higher education or stay undecided after high school. We compared these adolescents prior to the start of the training with 46 peers (17â21 years, M = 19.4 years) who reported to have successfully chosen a major. The results showed that adolescents struggling with educational decisionâmaking reported lower levels of selfâesteem and selfâconcept clarity. Neurally, higher selfâesteem was associated with more selfârelated activity in the medial prefrontal cortex. Together, these results suggest that healthy selfâesteem levels are an important condition for the ability to make a wellâsuited educational choice.NWONWOâVICI 453â14â001 E.A.CPathways through Adolescenc