Persistence of value-modulated attentional capture is associated with risky alcohol use

Immunity for counterproductive attentional capture by reward signals among individuals with depressive symptoms

OBJECTIVES

This study aimed to investigate the characteristics of attentional capture by reward signals in individuals with depression during classical conditioning.

METHODS

A variant of the additional singleton paradigm was adopted with a high- or low-reward signal as the prominent distracting stimulus. In Experiment 1, 46 participants with depressive symptoms and 46 healthy controls were asked to conduct a keypress response to the visual target. In Experiment 2, 58 participants with depressive symptoms and 58 healthy controls were asked to conduct a fixation response to the visual target.

RESULTS

In the keypress response task, the presence of high-reward signals slowed down the responses of participants in the control group, whereas the response times of individuals with depression were not significantly affected. In the fixation response task, when the high-reward signal was presented, individuals with depression were more likely to choose the target location as the first saccade destination, compared with healthy controls. In addition, individuals with depression exhibited fewer oculomotor capture by high-reward signals than healthy controls, a trait which was closely linked to the enhanced saccadic inhibition.

CONCLUSION

The results of our study indicated that individuals with depression exhibited an abnormality in attentional capture by reward-related conditioned stimuli during classical conditioning.

Relating distractor suppression to problematic drinking behavior

BACKGROUND

Impaired cognitive control has been linked to weakened self-regulatory processes underlying compulsive substance intake. Previous research has provided evidence for impaired task performance in substance-abusing groups during Stroop and Go/No-Go tasks. Mechanisms of distractor suppression in visual search might also involve overlapping regulatory components that support goal-directed behavior by resolving the attentional competition between distractors and the target of search. However, the efficiency of learning-dependent distractor suppression has not been examined in the context of drug abuse and a direct comparison between cognitive control and distractor suppression is lacking.

METHOD

A total of 84 participants were assigned either to the heavy drinking group (ALC, n = 42) or the control group (CTL, n = 42) based on self-reported substance use. Participants completed the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) and Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS). After that, participants completed a computerized version of the Stroop task, Go/No-go task, and a visual search task measuring learning-dependent distractor suppression.

RESULTS

The Stroop effect and the frequency of no-go errors did not differ between groups. However, learned distractor suppression was significantly blunted in the ALC group compared to the control group. Across participants, performance on the Stroop and Go/No-go task were correlated, while the magnitude of distractor suppression was related to neither.

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings support a divergence of mechanistic processes underlying cognitive control and attentional control, and demonstrate impaired learning-dependent distractor suppression in heavy drinkers relative to a control group. Impaired distractor suppression offers new insight into why drug cues can be difficult to ignore.

Cognitive inflexibility moderates the relationship between relief-driven drinking motives and alcohol use

Introduction

Drinking motives and neurocognition play significant roles in predicting alcohol use. There is limited research examining how relief-driven drinking motives interact with neurocognition in alcohol use, which would help to elucidate the neurocognitive-motivational profiles most susceptible to harmful drinking. This study investigated the interactions between neurocognition (response inhibition and cognitive flexibility) and relief-driven drinking, in predicting problem drinking.

Methods

Participants completed the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test - Consumption items (AUDIT-C) to measure drinking behaviour, and online cognitive tasks, including the Value-Modulated Attentional Capture and Reversal Task (VMAC-R) and the Stop Signal Task (SST). The sample (N = 368) were individuals who drink alcohol, which included a subsample (N = 52) with problematic drinking, as defined by self-identifying as having a primary drinking problem. Drinking motives were assessed using a binary coping question in the overall sample, and the Habit, Reward, and Fear Scale (HRFS) in the subsample. Moderation analyses were conducted to investigate whether cognitive flexibility and response inhibition moderated relationships between relief-driven motives and drinking.

Results

Cognitive flexibility moderated the relationship between relief-driven motives and drinking (overall sample: β = 13.69, p = 0.017; subsample: β = 1.45, p = 0.013). Greater relief-driven motives were associated with heavier drinking for individuals with low cognitive flexibility. There was no significant interaction between response inhibition and relief-driven motives.

Conclusions

Relief-driven drinking motives interact with cognitive inflexibility to drive heavier drinking. Greater understanding of these neurocognitive-motivational mechanisms may help to develop more targeted and effective interventions for reducing harmful drinking.

Implementations of sign- and goal-tracking behavior in humans: A scoping review

Animal research has identified two major phenotypes in the tendency to attribute incentive salience to a reward-associated cue. Individuals called "sign-trackers" (STs) preferentially approach the cue, assigning both predictive and incentive values to it. In contrast, individuals called "goal-trackers" (GTs) preferentially approach the location of the upcoming reward, assigning only a predictive value to the cue. The ST/GT model has been shown to be relevant to understanding addiction vulnerability and other pathological behaviors in animals. Therefore, recent studies tried to implement this animal model in the human population. This scoping review aimed to identify and map evidence of human sign- and goal-tracking. Studies that explicitly measured human sign- and goal-tracking or related phenomena (e.g., attentional bias induced by reward-related cues), using paradigms in line with the animal model, were eligible for this review. We searched for published, unpublished, and gray literature (PhD theses, posters, conference papers) through the following databases: MEDLINE, Scopus, PsycINFO, Embase, OSF, and Google Scholar. The JBI scoping review methodology was adopted. Screening and extraction were carried out by three reviewers, in pairs. A total of 48 studies were identified. These studies used various experimental paradigms and used the term "sign-tracking" inconsistently, sometimes implicitly or not at all. We conclude that the literature on human sign-tracking is very heterogeneous on many levels. Overall, evidence supports the existence of sign- and goal-tracking behaviors in humans, although further validated research is crucially needed.

A comprehensive evaluation of the neurocognitive predictors of problematic alcohol use, eating, pornography, and internet use: A 6-month longitudinal study

Background and aims

Cognitive control and reward-related abnormalities are centrally implicated in addiction. However, findings from longitudinal studies addressing neurocognitive predictors of addictive behaviors are mixed. Further, little work has been conducted predicting non-substance-related addictive behaviors. Our study aimed to assess predictors of substance and non-substance addictive behaviors in a community sample, systematically evaluating each neurocognitive function's independent influence on addictive behavior.

Methods

Australians (N = 294; 51.7% female; M[SD] age = 24.8[4.7] years) completed online neurocognitive tasks and surveys at baseline and 3-month follow-up. Self-report scales assessed problematic alcohol use, addictive eating (AE), problematic pornography use (PPU), and problematic internet use (PUI) at 3- and 6-month follow-ups. Linear regressions with bootstrapping assessed neurocognitive predictors for each addictive behavior across a 6-month period.

Results

Neurocognition at baseline did not predict AE or PUI severity at 6-month follow-up. Less delay discounting at baseline predicted higher PPU at 6-month follow-up (β = -0.16, p = 0.005). Poorer performance monitoring at baseline predicted higher AE at 3-month follow-up (β = -0.16, p = 0.004), and more reward-related attentional capture at 3-months predicted higher AE at 6-month follow-up (β = 0.14, p = 0.033). Less reward-related attentional capture (β = -0.14, p = 0.003) and less risk-taking under ambiguity (β = -0.11, p = 0.029) at baseline predicted higher PUI at 3-month follow-up. All findings were of small effect size. None of the neurocognitive variables predicted problematic alcohol use.

Discussion and conclusions

We were unable to identify a core set of specific neurocognitive functions that reliably predict multiple addictive behavior types. However, our findings indicate both cognitive control and reward-related functions predict non-substance addictive behaviors in different ways. Findings suggest that there may be partially distinct neurocognitive mechanisms contributing to addiction depending on the specific addictive behavior.

On the reliability of value-modulated attentional capture: An online replication and multiverse analysis

Stimuli predicting rewards are more likely to capture attention, even when they are not relevant to our current goals. Individual differences in value-modulated attentional capture (VMAC) have been associated with various psychopathological conditions in the scientific literature. However, the claim that this attentional bias can predict individual differences requires further exploration of the psychometric properties of the most common experimental paradigms. The current study replicated the VMAC effect in a large online sample (N = 182) and investigated the internal consistency, with a design that allowed us to measure the effect during learning (rewarded phase) and after acquisition, once feedback was omitted (unrewarded phase). Through the rewarded phase there was gradual increase of the VMAC effect, which did not decline significantly throughout the unrewarded phase. Furthermore, we conducted a reliability multiverse analysis for 288 different data preprocessing specifications across both phases. Specifications including more blocks in the analysis led to better reliability estimates in both phases, while specifications that removed more outliers also improved reliability, suggesting that specifications with more, but less noisy, trials led to better reliability estimates. Nevertheless, in most instances, especially those considering fewer blocks of trials, reliability estimates fell below the minimum recommended thresholds for research on individual differences. Given the present results, we encourage researchers working on VMAC to take into account reliability when designing studies aimed at capturing individual differences and provide recommendations to improve methodological practices.

Attentional Biases and Their Association with Substance-Use-Related Problems and Addictive Behaviors: The Utility of a Gamified Value-Modulated Attentional Capture Task

Background

Attentional biases towards reward stimuli have been implicated in substance use-related problems. The value-modulated attentional capture (VMAC) task assesses such reward-related biases. The VMAC task widely used in lab studies tends to be monotonous and susceptible to low effort. We therefore tested a gamified online version of the VMAC that aimed to increase participant engagement. Our goal was to examine how VMAC is associated with substance use-related problems and addictive behaviors, and whether this association is moderated by cognitive control.

Methods

We recruited 285 participants from an online community, including heavy alcohol users. All participants completed a novel gamified version of the VMAC task, measures of substance use and addictive behaviors (addictive-like eating behavior, problematic smartphone use), the WebExec measure of problems with executive functions, and the Stroop Adaptive Deadline Task (SDL) as a measure of cognitive control.

Results

The gamified VMAC task successfully identified value-modulated attentional capture effects towards high-reward stimuli. We found no significant associations between VMAC scores, problematic alcohol or cannabis use, addictive behaviors, or any moderation by a behavioral measure of cognitive control. Exploratory analyses revealed that self-reported cognitive problems were associated with more alcohol-, and cannabis-related problems, and addictive behaviors. Greater attentional capture (VMAC) was associated with more cannabis use-related problems among individuals with higher levels of self-reported cognitive problems.

Conclusions

Our study is one of the first to demonstrate the utility of the gamified version of the VMAC task in capturing attentional reward biases. Self-reported problems with cognitive functions represent a key dimension associated with substance use-related problems and addictive behaviors.

Trichotomy revisited: A monolithic theory of attentional control

The control of attention was long held to reflect the influence of two competing mechanisms of assigning priority, one goal-directed and the other stimulus-driven. Learning-dependent influences on the control of attention that could not be attributed to either of those two established mechanisms of control gave rise to the concept of selection history and a corresponding third mechanism of attentional control. The trichotomy framework that ensued has come to dominate theories of attentional control over the past decade, replacing the historical dichotomy. In this theoretical review, I readily affirm that distinctions between the influence of goals, salience, and selection history are substantive and meaningful, and that abandoning the dichotomy between goal-directed and stimulus-driven mechanisms of control was appropriate. I do, however, question whether a theoretical trichotomy is the right answer to the problem posed by selection history. If we reframe the influence of goals and selection history as different flavors of memory-dependent modulations of attentional priority and if we characterize the influence of salience as a consequence of insufficient competition from such memory-dependent sources of priority, it is possible to account for a wide range of attention-related phenomena with only one mechanism of control. The monolithic framework for the control of attention that I propose offers several concrete advantages over a trichotomy framework, which I explore here.

Effects of outcome revaluation on attentional prioritisation of reward-related stimuli

Stimuli associated with rewards can acquire the ability to capture our attention independently of our goals and intentions. Here, we examined whether attentional prioritisation of reward-related cues is sensitive to changes in the value of the reward itself. To this end, we incorporated an instructed outcome devaluation (Experiment 1a), "super-valuation" (Experiment 1b), or value switch (Experiment 2) into a visual search task, using eye-tracking to examine attentional prioritisation of stimuli signalling high- and low-value rewards. In Experiments 1a and 1b, we found that prioritisation of high- and low-value stimuli was insensitive to devaluation of a previously high-value outcome, and super-valuation of a previously low-value outcome, even when participants were provided with further experience of receiving that outcome. In Experiment 2, following a value-switch manipulation, we found that prioritisation of a high-value stimulus could not be overcome with knowledge of the new values of outcomes alone. Only when provided with further experience of receiving the outcomes did patterns of attentional prioritisation of high- and low-value stimuli switch, in line with the updated values of the outcomes they signalled. To reconcile these findings, we suggest that participants were motivated to engage in effortful updating of attentional control settings when there was a relative difference between reward values at test (Experiment 2) but that previous settings were allowed to persist when both outcomes had the same value at test (Experiments 1a and 1b). These findings provide a novel framework to further understand the role of cognitive control in driving reward-modulated attention and behaviour.

The neurocognitive correlates of non-substance addictive behaviors

Neurocognitive deficits have been implicated as transdiagnostic risk markers of substance use disorders. However, these have yet to be comprehensively evaluated in other, non-substance addictions. In a large, general community sample (N = 475) the present study evaluated the neurocognitive correlates of problem alcohol use and three non-substance-related addictive behaviors: addictive eating (AE), problematic pornography use (PPU), and problematic use of the internet (PUI), to identify potential shared and distinct neurocognitive correlates. A sample of Australian residents (54.4 % female M[SD] age = 32.4[11.9] years) completed a comprehensive online assessment of neurocognitive tasks tapping into eight distinct expert-endorsed domains purportedly associated with addiction. Multiple linear regressions with bootstrapping were used to examine associations among each addictive behavior of interest and neurocognition, trait impulsivity, and compulsivity, as well as key covariates. Neurocognition was differentially associated with each addictive behavior. None of the neurocognitive domains were significantly associated with problematic alcohol use or AE (p >.05), poorer performance monitoring was significantly associated with higher levels of PPU and PUI (β = -0.10, p =.049; β = -0.09, p =.028), and a preference for delayed gratification was associated with more severe PUI (β = -0.10, p =.025). Our findings have theoretical implications for how we understand non-substance addiction and suggest the need for a more nuanced approach to studying addictive behaviors that take into account the underlying neurocognitive mechanisms associated with each type of addiction.

You eye what you eat: BMI, consumption patterns, and dieting status predict temporal attentional bias to food-associated images

People know that overconsumption of high-fat high-sugar (HFHS) foods have negative consequences for physical and cognitive wellbeing but continue to consume these foods in excess, leading to recent proposals to model obesity as an addiction disorder. The current experiment tested, in a large undergraduate sample (N = 306), the hypothesis that obesity and overconsumption is linked with an oversensitivity to rewards that drives attentional biases towards foods and food-associated cues. Using a modified emotion-induced blindness task with food-related distractors, we examined the extent to which attentional biases to images of HFHS foods were accounted for by BMI, HFHS food intake, self-reported hunger, time since last meal, diet status, food preferences, and attentional control. We also examined whether the same individual differences predicted attentional priority to cues that have a learned association with HFHS foods (i.e., images of food logos). Contrary to our predictions, higher BMI predicted less attentional priority for images of food and food logos. At the same time, increased consumption of HFHS foods predicted increased attentional priority for food images, whereas dieting predicted increased attentional priority for food logo images. Our results suggest that different people may preferentially attend to food versus food logo imagery based on their relationships with food. More broadly, our results support the theoretical perspective that attentional biases to food-associated stimuli can be affected by various competing, state-related factors.

Value-modulated attentional capture is augmented by win-related sensory cues

Attentional prioritisation of stimuli in the environment plays an important role in overt choice. Previous research shows that prioritisation is influenced by the magnitude of paired rewards, in that stimuli signalling high-value rewards are more likely to capture attention than stimuli signalling low-value rewards; and this attentional bias has been proposed to play a role in addictive and compulsive behaviours. A separate line of research has shown that win-related sensory cues can bias overt choices. However, the role that these cues play in attentional selection is yet to be investigated. Participants in this study completed a visual search task in which they responded to a target shape in order to earn reward. The colour of a distractor signalled the magnitude of reward and type of feedback on each trial. Participants were slower to respond to the target when the distractor signalled high reward compared to when the distractor signalled low reward, suggesting that the high-reward distractors had increased attentional priority. Critically, the magnitude of this reward-related attentional bias was further increased for a high-reward distractor with post-trial feedback accompanied by win-related sensory cues. Participants also demonstrated an overt choice preference for the distractor that was associated with win-related sensory cues. These findings demonstrate that stimuli paired with win-related sensory cues are prioritised by the attention system over stimuli with equivalent physical salience and learned value. This attentional prioritisation may have downstream implications for overt choices, especially in gambling contexts where win-related sensory cues are common.

The role of sex on sign-tracking acquisition and outcome devaluation sensitivity in Long Evans rats

Cues that predict rewards can trigger reward-seeking behaviors but also can, in some cases, become targets of motivation themselves. One behavioral phenomenon that captures this idea is sign-tracking in which animals, including humans, interact with reward-predictive cues even though it is not necessary to do so. Sign-tracking in rats has been studied in the domain of motivation and in how motivated behaviors can or cannot become excessive and habit-like over time. Many prior studies look at sign-tracking examine this behavior in male subjects, but there are few papers that look at this behavior in female subjects. Moreover, it is unknown where there might be sex-related variation in how flexible sign-tracking is when faced with changing reward values. Therefore, we asked if there were sex differences in the acquisition of sign-tracking behavior and if there were any sex differences in how sensitive animals were in their sign-tracking following reward devaluation. In contrast to previous reports, we found that males and females show no differences in how they acquire sign-tracking and in ultimate sign-tracking levels following training. Additionally, we found no difference in how quickly males and females learned to devalue the food reward, and we found no differences in sign-tracking levels by sex following outcome devaluation. We believe that this is primarily due to our experiment being performed in the Long Evans strain but also believe that there are many other factors contributing to differences between our study and previous work.

A Novel, Expert-Endorsed, Neurocognitive Digital Assessment Tool for Addictive Disorders: Development and Validation Study

BACKGROUND

Many people with harmful addictive behaviors may not meet formal diagnostic thresholds for a disorder. A dimensional approach, by contrast, including clinical and community samples, is potentially key to early detection, prevention, and intervention. Importantly, while neurocognitive dysfunction underpins addictive behaviors, established assessment tools for neurocognitive assessment are lengthy and unengaging, difficult to administer at scale, and not suited to clinical or community needs. The BrainPark Assessment of Cognition (BrainPAC) Project sought to develop and validate an engaging and user-friendly digital assessment tool purpose-built to comprehensively assess the main consensus-driven constructs underpinning addictive behaviors.

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this study was to psychometrically validate a gamified battery of consensus-based neurocognitive tasks against standard laboratory paradigms, ascertain test-retest reliability, and determine their sensitivity to addictive behaviors (eg, alcohol use) and other risk factors (eg, trait impulsivity).

METHODS

Gold standard laboratory paradigms were selected to measure key neurocognitive constructs (Balloon Analogue Risk Task [BART], Stop Signal Task [SST], Delay Discounting Task [DDT], Value-Modulated Attentional Capture [VMAC] Task, and Sequential Decision-Making Task [SDT]), as endorsed by an international panel of addiction experts; namely, response selection and inhibition, reward valuation, action selection, reward learning, expectancy and reward prediction error, habit, and compulsivity. Working with game developers, BrainPAC tasks were developed and validated in 3 successive cohorts (total N=600) and a separate test-retest cohort (N=50) via Mechanical Turk using a cross-sectional design.

RESULTS

BrainPAC tasks were significantly correlated with the original laboratory paradigms on most metrics (r=0.18-0.63, P<.05). With the exception of the DDT k function and VMAC total points, all other task metrics across the 5 tasks did not differ between the gamified and nongamified versions (P>.05). Out of 5 tasks, 4 demonstrated adequate to excellent test-retest reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient 0.72-0.91, P<.001; except SDT). Gamified metrics were significantly associated with addictive behaviors on behavioral inventories, though largely independent of trait-based scales known to predict addiction risk.

CONCLUSIONS

A purpose-built battery of digitally gamified tasks is sufficiently valid for the scalable assessment of key neurocognitive processes underpinning addictive behaviors. This validation provides evidence that a novel approach, purported to enhance task engagement, in the assessment of addiction-related neurocognition is feasible and empirically defensible. These findings have significant implications for risk detection and the successful deployment of next-generation assessment tools for substance use or misuse and other mental disorders characterized by neurocognitive anomalies related to motivation and self-regulation. Future development and validation of the BrainPAC tool should consider further enhancing convergence with established measures as well as collecting population-representative data to use clinically as normative comparisons.

Sign-tracking modulates reward-related neural activation to reward cues, but not reward feedback

Research shows cognitive and neurobiological overlap between sign-tracking [value-modulated attentional capture (VMAC) by response-irrelevant, discrete cues] and maladaptive behaviour (e.g. substance abuse). We investigated the neural correlates of sign-tracking in 20 adults using an additional singleton task (AST) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Participants responded to a target to win monetary reward, the amount of which was signalled by singleton type (reward cue: high value vs. low value). Singleton responses resulted in monetary deductions. Sign-tracking-greater distraction by high-value vs. low-value singletons (H > L)-was observed, with high-value singletons producing slower responses to the target than low-value singletons. Controlling for age and sex, analyses revealed no differential brain activity across H > L singletons. Including sign-tracking as a regressor of interest revealed increased activity (H > L singletons) in cortico-subcortical loops, regions associated with Pavlovian conditioning, reward processing, attention shifts and relative value coding. Further analyses investigated responses to reward feedback (H > L). Controlling for age and sex, increased activity (H > L reward feedback) was found in regions associated with reward anticipation, attentional control, success monitoring and emotion regulation. Including sign-tracking as a regressor of interest revealed increased activity in the temporal pole, a region related to value discrimination. Results suggest sign-tracking is associated with activation of the 'attention and salience network' in response to reward cues but not reward feedback, suggesting parcellation between the two at the level of the brain. Results add to the literature showing considerable overlap in neural systems implicated in reward processing, learning, habit formation, emotion regulation and substance craving.

Attentional capture by signals of reward persists following outcome devaluation

Attention, the mechanism that prioritizes stimuli in the environment for further processing, plays an important role in behavioral choice. In the present study, we investigated the automatic orienting of attention to cues that signal reward. Such attentional capture occurs despite negative consequences, and we investigated whether this counterproductive and reflexive behavior would persist following outcome devaluation. Thirsty participants completed a visual search task in which the color of a distractor stimulus in the search display signaled whether participants would earn water or potato chips for making a rapid eye movement to a diamond target, but looking at the colored distractor was punished by omission of the signaled reward. Nevertheless, participants looked at the water-signaling distractor more frequently than the chip-signaling distractor. Half the participants then drank water ad libitum before continuing with the visual search task. Although the water was now significantly less desirable for half of the participants, there was no difference between groups in the tendency for the water-signaling distractor to capture attention. These findings suggest that once established, counterproductive attentional bias to signals of reward persists even when those outcomes are no longer valuable. This suggests a "habit-like" attentional mechanism that prioritizes reward stimuli in the environment for further action, regardless of whether those stimuli are aligned with current goals or currently desired.

Spatial task relevance modulates value-driven attentional capture

Attention tends to be attracted to visual features previously associated with reward. To date, nearly all existing studies examined value-associated stimuli at or near potential target locations, making such locations meaningful to inspect. The present experiments examined whether the attentional priority of a value-associated stimulus depends on its location-wise task relevance. In three experiments we used an RSVP task to compare the attentional demands of a value-associated peripheral distractor to that of a distractor associated with the top-down search goal. At a peripheral location that could never contain the target, a value-associated color did not capture attention. In contrast, at the same location, a distractor in a goal-matching color did capture attention. The results show that value-associated stimuli lose their attentional priority at task-irrelevant locations, in contrast to other types of stimuli that capture attention.

Transdiagnostic phenotypes of compulsive behavior and associations with psychological, cognitive, and neurobiological affective processing

Compulsivity is a poorly understood transdiagnostic construct thought to underlie multiple disorders, including obsessive-compulsive disorder, addictions, and binge eating. Our current understanding of the causes of compulsive behavior remains primarily based on investigations into specific diagnostic categories or findings relying on one or two laboratory measures to explain complex phenotypic variance. This proof-of-concept study drew on a heterogeneous sample of community-based individuals (N = 45; 18-45 years; 25 female) exhibiting compulsive behavioral patterns in alcohol use, eating, cleaning, checking, or symmetry. Data-driven statistical modeling of multidimensional markers was utilized to identify homogeneous subtypes that were independent of traditional clinical phenomenology. Markers were based on well-defined measures of affective processing and included psychological assessment of compulsivity, behavioral avoidance, and stress, neurocognitive assessment of reward vs. punishment learning, and biological assessment of the cortisol awakening response. The neurobiological validity of the subtypes was assessed using functional magnetic resonance imaging. Statistical modeling identified three stable, distinct subtypes of compulsivity and affective processing, which we labeled "Compulsive Non-Avoidant", "Compulsive Reactive" and "Compulsive Stressed". They differed meaningfully on validation measures of mood, intolerance of uncertainty, and urgency. Most importantly, subtypes captured neurobiological variance on amygdala-based resting-state functional connectivity, suggesting they were valid representations of underlying neurobiology and highlighting the relevance of emotion-related brain networks in compulsive behavior. Although independent larger samples are needed to confirm the stability of subtypes, these data offer an integrated understanding of how different systems may interact in compulsive behavior and provide new considerations for guiding tailored intervention decisions.

Distress-driven impulsivity interacts with trait compulsivity in association with problematic drinking: A two-sample study

OBJECTIVE

Problematic drinking is highly prevalent among the general population, oftentimes leading to significant negative consequences, including physical injury, psychological problems and financial hardship. In order to design targeted early interventions for problematic drinking, it is important to understand the mechanisms that render individuals at risk for and/or maintain this behavior. Two candidate drivers of problematic drinking are distress-driven impulsivity and trait compulsivity, with recent research suggesting these constructs may interact to enhance risk for addictive behaviors. The current study examined whether individual differences in distress-driven impulsivity and trait compulsivity interact in relation to problematic drinking.

METHOD

Distress-driven impulsivity (indexed by the S-UPPS-P negative urgency subscale), trait compulsivity (indexed by the CHIT scale) and problematic drinking (indexed by the BATCAP alcohol scale) were assessed in two independent online samples (Sample 1, n = 117; Sample 2, n = 474). Bootstrapped moderation analysis was conducted to examine whether trait compulsivity moderated the relationship between distress-driven impulsivity and problematic drinking.

RESULTS

In both samples, there was a significant interaction between distress-driven impulsivity and trait compulsivity in relation to problematic drinking. Follow-up tests revealed that, in both samples, higher distress-driven impulsivity was associated with more problematic drinking behaviors among participants with high trait compulsivity only.

CONCLUSIONS

The current findings add to the growing literature supporting an interactive relationship between impulsivity and compulsivity-related traits in relation to addictive behaviors and have implications for informing early detection of risk and targeted early interventions.

Reward Rapidly Enhances Visual Perception

Rewards exert a deep influence on our cognition and behavior. Here, we used a paradigm in which reward information was provided at either encoding or retrieval of a brief, masked stimulus to show that reward can also rapidly modulate perceptual encoding of visual information. Experiment 1 (n = 30 adults) showed that participants' response accuracy was enhanced when a to-be-encoded grating signaled high reward relative to low reward, but only when the grating was presented very briefly and participants reported that they were not consciously aware of it. Experiment 2 (n = 29 adults) showed that there was no difference in participants' response accuracy when reward information was instead provided at the stage of retrieval, ruling out an explanation of the reward-modulation effect in terms of differences in motivated retrieval. Taken together, our findings provide behavioral evidence consistent with a rapid reward modulation of visual perception, which may not require consciousness.

Distress-driven impulsivity interacts with cognitive inflexibility to determine addiction-like eating

BACKGROUND

Researchers are only just beginning to understand the neurocognitive drivers of addiction-like eating behaviours, a highly distressing and relatively common condition. Two constructs have been consistently linked to addiction-like eating: distress-driven impulsivity and cognitive inflexibility. Despite a large body of addiction research showing that impulsivity-related traits can interact with other risk markers to result in an especially heightened risk for addictive behaviours, no study to date has examined how distress-driven impulsivity interacts with cognitive inflexibility in relation to addiction-like eating behaviours. The current study examines the interactive contribution of distress-driven impulsivity and cognitive inflexibility to addiction-like eating behaviours.

METHOD

One hundred and thirty-one participants [mean age 21 years (SD = 2.3), 61.8% female] completed the modified Yale Food Addiction Scale, the S-UPPS-P impulsivity scale, and a cognitive flexibility task. A bootstrap method was used to examine the associations between distress-driven impulsivity, cognitive inflexibility, and their interaction with addiction-like eating behaviours.

RESULTS

There was a significant interaction effect between distress-driven impulsivity and cognitive flexibility (P = 0.03). The follow-up test revealed that higher distress-driven impulsivity was associated with more addiction-like eating behaviours among participants classified as cognitively inflexible only.

CONCLUSION

The current findings shed light on the mechanisms underlying addiction-like eating behaviours, including how traits and cognition might interact to drive them. The findings also suggest that interventions that directly address distress-driven impulsivity and cognitive inflexibility might be effective in reducing risk for addiction-like eating and related disorders.

Reward-related attentional capture predicts non-abstinence during a one-month abstinence challenge

BACKGROUND

While it is generally recognised that cognitive attributes can predict behaviour change outcomes in the field of addiction this question is typically studied in treatment seeking samples (to predict treatment outcomes and relapse). However the concept of behaviour change applies to the entire spectrum of addiction-like behaviours and initiatives such as temporary abstinence challenges offer insight into an understudied but equally relevant point of the spectrum. Thus the current study examined whether reward-related attentional capture predicted non-abstinence during IkPas (the Dutch national dry January campaign translated: NoThanks!).

METHOD

Participants included 1130 adults who had complete baseline data and performed above chance level on the cognitive task. Of these 683 participants completed the post-IkPas assessment and were included in the primary analysis. A binary logistic regression examined whether reward-related attentional capture predicted drinking during IkPas controlling for alcohol use at baseline (among other potential confounders).

RESULTS

Participants who showed greater reward-related attentional capture before IkPas were more likely to not remain abstinent from drinking during IkPas (p = .014). Findings were replicated using multiple imputation to replace missing data (p = .013).

CONCLUSION

These findings provide important insights into the cognitive mechanisms that support successful behaviour change such as the ability to ignore task-irrelevant reward cues and may inform the development of tools that individuals could use to maximise their likelihood of achieving successful behaviour change.

Reward-Related Attentional Capture Moderates the Association between Fear-Driven Motives and Heavy Drinking

BACKGROUND

To date, there has been little investigation on how motivational and cognitive mechanisms interact to influence problematic drinking behaviours. Towards this aim, the current study examined whether reward-related attentional capture is associated with reward, fear (relief), and habit drinking motives, and further, whether it interacts with these motives in relation to problematic drinking patterns.

METHODS

Ninety participants (mean age = 34.8 years, SD = 9.1, 54% male) who reported having consumed alcohol in the past month completed an online visual search task that measured reward-related attentional capture as well as the Habit Reward Fear Scale, a measure of drinking motives. Participants also completed measures of psychological distress, impulsivity, compulsive drinking, and consumption items of Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test. Regression analyses examined the associations between motives for alcohol consumption and reward-related attentional capture, as well as the associations between reward-related attentional capture, motives, and their interaction, with alcohol consumption and problems.

RESULTS

Greater reward-related attentional capture was associated with greater reward motives. Further, reward-related attentional capture also interacted with fear motives in relation to alcohol consumption. Follow-up analyses showed that this interaction was driven by greater fear motives being associated with heavier drinking among those with lower reward-related attentional capture (i.e., "goal-trackers").

CONCLUSION

These findings have implications for understanding how cognition may interact with motives in association with problematic drinking. Specifically, the findings highlight different potential pathways to problematic drinking according to an individual's cognitive-motivational profile and may inform tailored interventions to target profile-specific mechanisms. Finally, these findings offer support for contemporary models of addiction that view excessive goal-directed behaviour under negative affect as a critical contributor to addictive behaviours.

Cognitive Inflexibility in OCD and Related Disorders

Cognitive inflexibility is suggested by the hallmark symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), namely the occurrence of repetitive thoughts and/or behaviours that persist despite being functionally impairing and egodystonic to the individual. As well as being implied by the top-level symptoms, cognitive inflexibility in OCD, and some related conditions, has also been objectively quantified in case-control studies using computerised cognitive tasks. This chapter begins by considering the objective measurement of different aspects of cognitive flexibility using neuropsychological paradigms, with a focus on neural and neurochemical substrates. It moves on to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis of findings from a widely deployed flexibility task: the Intra-Dimensional/Extra-Dimensional Set-Shift Task (IDED). By pooling data from 11 studies (335 OCD patients and 311 controls), we show that Extra-Dimensional (ED) shift deficits are a robust and reproducible finding (effect size medium-large) in OCD across the literature, and that this deficit is not attributable to group differences in age or IQ. The OCD ED deficit is then discussed in terms of dysfunction of fronto-striatal pathways (as exemplified, for example, by functional connectivity data), and the putative role of different neurotransmitters. We consider evidence that impaired ED shifting constitutes a candidate vulnerability marker (or 'endophenotype') for OCD. The available literature is then surveyed as to ED findings in other obsessive-compulsive (OC) related disorders (e.g. hoarding, body-dysmorphic disorder, and trichotillomania), as well as in non-OC disorders (schizophrenia and anxiety symptoms in general). Lastly, we consider more recent, emerging developments in the quantification of compulsivity using cognitive tasks and questionnaires, as well as key directions for future research, including the need to refine compulsivity and its composite cognitive processes.

Reduced attentional capture by reward following an acute dose of alcohol

RATIONALE

Previous research has shown that physically salient and reward-related distractors can automatically capture attention and eye gaze in a visual search task, even though participants are motivated to ignore these stimuli.

OBJECTIVES

To examine whether an acute, low dose of alcohol would influence involuntary attentional capture by stimuli signalling reward.

METHODS

Participants were assigned to the alcohol or placebo group before completing a visual search task. Successful identification of the target earned either a low or high monetary reward but this reward was omitted if any eye gaze was registered on the reward-signalling distractor.

RESULTS

Participants who had consumed alcohol were significantly less likely than those in the placebo condition to have their attention captured by a distractor stimulus that signalled the availability of high reward. Analysis of saccade latencies suggested that this difference reflected a reduction in the likelihood of impulsive eye movements following alcohol.

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings suggest that alcohol intoxication reduces the capacity to attend to information in the environment that is not directly relevant to the task at hand. In the current task, this led to a performance benefit under alcohol, but in situations that require rapid responding to salient events, the effect on behaviour would be deleterious.

Compulsivity is measurable across distinct psychiatric symptom domains and is associated with familial risk and reward-related attentional capture

BACKGROUND

Compulsivity can be seen across various mental health conditions and refers to a tendency toward repetitive habitual acts that are persistent and functionally impairing. Compulsivity involves dysfunctional reward-related circuitry and is thought to be significantly heritable. Despite this, its measurement from a transdiagnostic perspective has received only scant research attention. Here we examine both the psychometric properties of a recently developed compulsivity scale, as well as its relationship with compulsive symptoms, familial risk, and reward-related attentional capture.

METHODS

Two-hundred and sixty individuals participated in the study (mean age = 36.0 [SD = 10.8] years; 60.0% male) and completed the Cambridge-Chicago Compulsivity Trait Scale (CHI-T), along with measures of psychiatric symptoms and family history thereof. Participants also completed a task designed to measure reward-related attentional capture (n = 177).

RESULTS

CHI-T total scores had a normal distribution and acceptable Cronbach's alpha (0.84). CHI-T total scores correlated significantly and positively (all p < 0.05, Bonferroni corrected) with Problematic Usage of the Internet, disordered gambling, obsessive-compulsive symptoms, alcohol misuse, and disordered eating. The scale was correlated significantly with history of addiction and obsessive-compulsive related disorders in first-degree relatives of participants and greater reward-related attentional capture.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings suggest that the CHI-T is suitable for use in online studies and constitutes a transdiagnostic marker for a range of compulsive symptoms, their familial loading, and related cognitive markers. Future work should more extensively investigate the scale in normative and clinical cohorts, and the role of value-modulated attentional capture across compulsive disorders.

Relating value-driven attention to psychopathology

Reward-associated objects receive preferential attention, reflecting a bias in information processing that develops automatically following associative learning. Mounting evidence suggests that such value-driven attention operates abnormally in certain psychopathologies, with attentional biases for reward-associated objects being either exaggerated or blunted compared to healthy controls. Here, I review the evidence linking value-driven attention to psychopathology, including drug addiction, depression, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), compulsivity, and impulsive and risky decision-making. I conclude by offering an integrative framework for conceptualizing the link between value-driven attention and psychopathology, along with suggestions for future research into this burgeoning area of investigation, including research on object attachment.

Reward-related attentional capture and cognitive inflexibility interact to determine greater severity of compulsivity-related problems

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

Neurocognitive processes are key drivers of addictive and compulsive disorders. The current study examined whether reward-related attentional capture and cognitive inflexibility are associated with impulsive and/or compulsive personality traits, and whether these cognitive characteristics interact to predict greater compulsivity-related problems across obsessive-compulsive and drinking behaviors.

METHODS

One-hundred and seventy-three participants (mean age = 34.5 years, S.D = 8.4, 42% female) completed an online visual search task to measure reward-related attentional capture and its persistence following reversal of stimulus-reward contingencies. Participants also completed questionnaires to assess trait impulsivity, compulsivity, alcohol use, and obsessive-compulsive behaviors.

RESULTS

Greater reward-related attentional capture was associated with trait compulsivity, over and above all impulsivity dimensions, while greater cognitive inflexibility was associated with higher negative urgency (distress-elicited impulsivity). Reward-related attentional capture and cognitive inflexibility interacted to predict greater compulsivity-related problems among participants who reported obsessive-compulsive behaviors in the past month (n = 57) as well as current drinkers (n = 88). Follow-up analyses showed that, for OCD behaviors, this interaction was driven by an association between higher reward-related attentional capture and more problematic behaviors among cognitively inflexible participants only. For drinking, the same pattern was seen, albeit at trend level.

LIMITATIONS

This study includes a non-clinical, online sample and is cross-sectional, thus its findings need to be interpreted with these limitations in mind.

CONCLUSIONS

Reward-related attentional capture and cognitive flexibility are related to trait compulsivity and impulsivity (negative urgency) respectively, and interact to determine more problematic behaviors.

Mapping sign-tracking and goal-tracking onto human behaviors

As evidenced through classic Pavlovian learning mechanisms, environmental cues can become incentivized and influence behavior. These stimulus-outcome associations are relevant in everyday life but may be particularly important for the development of impulse control disorders including addiction. Rodent studies have elucidated specific learning profiles termed 'sign-tracking' and 'goal-tracking' which map onto individual differences in impulsivity and other behaviors associated with impulse control disorders' etiology, course, and relapse. Whereas goal-trackers are biased toward the outcome, sign-trackers fixate on features that are associated with but not necessary for achieving an outcome; a pattern of behavior that often leads to escalation of reward-seeking that can be maladaptive. The vast majority of the sign- and goal-tracking research has been conducted using rodent models and very few have bridged this concept into the domain of human behavior. In this review, we discuss the attributes of sign- and goal-tracking profiles, how these are manifested neurobiologically, and how these distinct learning styles could be an important tool for clinical interventions in human addiction.

Attentional capture by Pavlovian reward-signalling distractors in visual search persists when rewards are removed

Existing research indicates that learning about the Pavlovian 'signal value' of stimuli can induce attentional biases: findings suggest that our attentional system prioritises detection of stimuli that have previously signalled availability of high reward. These findings potentially provide a human analogue of sign-tracking behaviour previously reported in studies of non-human animals. Here we examine a visual search task that has been developed to demonstrate the Pavlovian influence of reward on attention, in which the critical reward-signalling stimuli are never explicit targets of search. This procedure has previously yielded robust effects of reward on attention; however it remains unclear whether this pattern reflects a persistent and automatic bias in attentional capture based on prior experience of stimulus-reward pairings, or whether it results from participants strategically attending to reward-signalling distractors because they provide useful information about reward magnitude. To investigate this issue, in the current study participants initially completed a rewarded visual search task, in which colours of distractor stimuli signalled availability of high or low reward. Participants then completed a test phase in which rewards were no longer available, such that distractor colours no longer provided useful information on reward availability. Performance during the initial rewarded phase was impaired by the presence of a distractor signalling availability of high relative to low reward. Crucially, the magnitude of this reward-related distraction effect did not reduce in the subsequent unrewarded test phase. This suggests that participants' experience of differences in reward value signalled by distractor stimuli in this task can induce persistent biases in the extent to which these stimuli involuntarily capture attention, even when they are entirely task-irrelevant.