Citation

Obst E, Schad DJ, Huys QJ, Sebold M, Nebe S, Sommer C, Smolka MN, Zimmermann US. J. Psychopharmacol. 2018; 32(8): 855-866.

Affiliation

Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Technische Universität Dresden, Germany.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/0269881118772454

PMID

29764270

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Studies in humans and animals suggest a shift from goal-directed to habitual decision-making in addiction. We therefore tested whether acute alcohol administration reduces goal-directed and promotes habitual decision-making, and whether these effects are moderated by self-reported drinking problems.

METHODS: Fifty-three socially drinking males completed the two-step task in a randomised crossover design while receiving an intravenous infusion of ethanol (blood alcohol level=80 mg%), or placebo. To minimise potential bias by long-standing heavy drinking and subsequent neuropsychological impairment, we tested 18- to 19-year-old adolescents.

RESULTS: Alcohol administration consistently reduced habitual, model-free decisions, while its effects on goal-directed, model-based behaviour varied as a function of drinking problems measured with the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test. While adolescents with low risk for drinking problems (scoring <8) exhibited an alcohol-induced numerical reduction in goal-directed choices, intermediate-risk drinkers showed a shift away from habitual towards goal-directed decision-making, such that alcohol possibly even improved their performance.

CONCLUSIONS: We assume that alcohol disrupted basic cognitive functions underlying habitual and goal-directed decisions in low-risk drinkers, thereby enhancing hasty choices. Further, we speculate that intermediate-risk drinkers benefited from alcohol as a negative reinforcer that reduced unpleasant emotional states, possibly displaying a novel risk factor for drinking in adolescence.

Language: en

Keywords

Computer-assisted Alcohol Infusion System; drinking problems; habitual learning; model-free and model-based decision-making; real-life drinking behaviour; subjective response to ethanol; two-stage Markov decision task