Enhanced conditioned “liking” of novel visual cues paired with alcohol or non-alcohol beverage container images among individuals at higher risk for alcohol use disorder

Abstract

Rationale/Objective

This study used an evaluative conditioning (EC) procedure to assess the affective properties of a CS for ingested drug reward in humans. Specifically, the study tested whether the evaluative response (“liking”/”disliking”) to an arbitrary visual stimulus (“CS ₂,” e.g., a purple hexagon) could be changed through pairings with an alcohol or non-alcohol beverage cue (“CS ₁,” e.g., a full wine glass, a juice box), which is ostensibly a conditioned visual predictive stimulus for alcohol or non-alcohol liquid reward, respectively.

Methods

Participants ( N = 369, 18–23 years, 66% female, 79% white, 21% reporting no alcohol use ever or in the past year) received 24 CS ₁ pairings with each CS ₂. CS ₂ and CS ₁ evaluations were assessed pre- and post-conditioning.

Results

Alcohol and non-alcohol CS ₂ “liking” correlated with alcohol use. “Liking” of the alcohol but not non-alcohol CS ₁ also correlated with alcohol use. Alcohol CS ₁ “liking” also correlated with alcohol and non-alcohol CS ₂ ‘liking,” whereas non-alcohol CS ₁ ‘liking” correlated with non-alcohol but not alcohol CS ₂ “liking.”

Conclusions

Taken together, findings support the idea that drug-related visual stimuli acquire appetitive (hedonic and/or incentive) properties as a function of individual differences in drug use, which entail individual differences in exposure to the conditioning effects of addictive substances like alcohol. Findings also suggest a link between drug use and the propensity to attribute affective/motivational significance to reward-predictive cues in general.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00213-022-06231-4.