Author ORCID Identifier
Date Available
4-2-2021
Year of Publication
2021
Document Type
Master's Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science (MS)
College
Arts and Sciences
Department/School/Program
Psychology
Advisor
Dr. Joshua Beckmann
Abstract
Cocaine Use Disorder (CUD) is characterized partly by the use of cocaine at the expense of other alternatives, in other words, it is a decision-making pathology (Kalivas & Volkow, 2005). Concurrent choice tasks assess decision-making in a dynamic scenario that more closely resembles real life. Value-based decision-making is an important facet of understanding the addictive properties of drugs of abuse. In order to compare two value-based theories of addiction (habit theory and relative value theory), a concurrent choice task was run in tandem with an escalation procedure. First, animals were trained on a choice task until stable, then trained on to self-administer cocaine (0.3mg/kg to the animal’s weight) using a fixed ratio 1 schedule under 1-hr access. For the escalation procedure, some animals remained on 1-hr access and others were given 6-hr access to cocaine for 21 days. Then all rats returned to 1-hr access. The animals were trained such that they performed the choice task in the morning (while not under the influence of drugs) and then after a rest in the home cage, were put back into the operant boxes for self-administration sessions.
Escalation of cocaine intake was evident in the 6-hr exposed animals but intake was stable in the 1-hr exposed animals. The choice behavior between the two groups did not differ, despite differences in intake between the groups. Indicating that despite dysregulated cocaine intake, value-based decision-making and goal-directed behavior remained intact. This supports the idea of looking beyond habit theory as the sole explanation for the change in decision-making behavior seen in CUD.
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.13023/etd.2021.242
Funding Information
This study was supported by a grant from the National Institute of Health (no. 1 R01 DA045023-01A1) from which the author received funds from 2018-2020.
Recommended Citation
Stephens, McAllister, "THE EFFECTS OF ESCALATED COCAINE INTAKE ON DECISION-MAKING DYNAMICS" (2021). Theses and Dissertations--Psychology. 193.
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/psychology_etds/193
