Addiction Potential for Sign Trackers vs Goal Trackers

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https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Cartoon-representation-of-goal-tracking-and-sign-tracking-behaviors-Examples-of-A_fig2_261140706

Do you head straight to reward chute or do you keep pressing the lever when it makes no difference to reward delivery?

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... rats are exposed to a classical Pavlovian conditioning paradigm wherein an illuminated lever (conditioned stimulus) is repeatedly paired with delivery of a food reward (unconditioned stimulus), distinct conditioned responses emerge. Some rats, termed goal- trackers, attribute predictive value to the lever-cue, and promptly approach the location of reward delivery upon lever-cue pre- sentation (Figure 2A). Other animals, called sign-trackers, not only attribute predictive value, but also attribute incentive salience to the lever-cue, and upon its presentation will approach and manipulate it (Figure 2B), even though no interaction with the lever is required for food delivery. ...
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Context 2
... rats, termed goal- trackers, attribute predictive value to the lever-cue, and promptly approach the location of reward delivery upon lever-cue pre- sentation (Figure 2A). Other animals, called sign-trackers, not only attribute predictive value, but also attribute incentive salience to the lever-cue, and upon its presentation will approach and manipulate it (Figure 2B), even though no interaction with the lever is required for food delivery. Importantly, all of the animals, regardless of their phenotype, retrieve and eat all of the food pellets, and their behavior during the inter-trial intervals is the same and attenuates over training. ...

 

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Pavlovian sign-tracking model of alcohol abuse - PubMed

While poorly controlled alcohol drinking is a prominent symptom of alcohol abuse, its environmental determinants remain poorly understood. The Sign-Tracking Model (STM), developed by Tomie and his associates, postulates that poorly controlled alcohol drinking is due to the development of...

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

While poorly controlled alcohol drinking is a prominent symptom of alcohol abuse, its environmental determinants remain poorly understood. The Sign-Tracking Model (STM), developed by Tomie and his associates, postulates that poorly controlled alcohol drinking is due to the development of signal-directed behaviors induced by Pavlovian sign-tracking procedures.

 

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Behavioral Characteristics and Neurobiological Substrates Shared by Pavlovian Sign-Tracking and Drug Abuse

Drug abuse researchers have noted striking similarities between behaviors elicited by Pavlovian sign-tracking procedures and prominent symptoms of drug abuse. In Pavlovian sign-tracking procedures, repeated paired presentations of a small object (conditioned ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Behavioral Characteristics and Neurobiological Substrates Shared by Pavlovian Sign-Tracking and Drug Abuse​

Drug abuse researchers have noted striking similarities between behaviors elicited by Pavlovian sign-tracking procedures and prominent symptoms of drug abuse. In Pavlovian sign-tracking procedures, repeated paired presentations of a small object (conditioned stimulus, CS) with a reward (unconditioned stimulus, US) elicits a conditioned response (CR) that typically consists of approaching the CS, contacting the CS, and expressing consummatory responses at the CS. Sign-tracking CR performance is poorly controlled and exhibits spontaneous recovery and long-term retention, effects that resemble relapse. Sign-tracking resembles psychomotor activation, a syndrome of behavioral responses evoked by addictive drugs, and the effects of sign-tracking on corticosterone levels and activation of dopamine pathways resemble the neurobiological effects of abused drugs. Finally, the neurobiological profile of individuals susceptible to sign-tracking resembles the pathophysiological profile of vulnerability to drug abuse, and vulnerability to sign-tracking predicts vulnerability to impulsive responding and alcohol self-administration. Implications of sign-tracking for models of drug addiction are considered.