Drugs and Behavior Exam 1

Addiction

Repetitive, compulsive behavior of a person despite negative consequences to life and health

Examples of Addiction

-drugs, alcohol, internet use and video games

-things we are addicted to can feel good

-positive and negative reinforcement

-classical conditioning

-no difinitive demarkation

DSM-5

-Used to determine disorder by checking for symptoms and severity

-only need 2+ symptoms

-alcohol

-canniabis

-hallucinogen

-inhalant

-opioid

-sedative, hyponitc, anixolytic

-stimulant

-tobacco

The Disease Model

-Alcohol/drug addiction is an involuntary physical illness

-hereditary, medical nature

-works like an allergy

-no cure: no acceptable usage

Arguments for Disease Model

-conveys seriousness of addiction

-relieves guilt and increase help seeking behavior

-evidence that addiction nearly inevitable following prolonged drug use

Arguments against Disease Model

-Argue that no such disease exists

-scientifically indefensible

-strips person of freedom and responsibility

-labelling as incurable diseases is stigmatizing

-fails to consider complex factors

-many people eventually stop using on their own

Addiction Is A Choice Model

-Individuals have free will to decide to engage or not in addictive behaviors

-deeply ingrained habit and/ or result of learning history

- includes theory of addiction as physical dependence--tolerance and withdrawal, occur with repeated use

Arguments For Choice Model

Biology/physiology alone cannot determine whether someone will use a drug.

People can get better on their own, and can use moderation.

Arguments Against Choice Model

Can have dependence without addiction

Can have addiction without dependence

Psychology's Understanding Of Addiction

-called "disorders" not "diseases"

-view addiction as stemming from multiple variables;

-biology

-environment

-motives

-learned experiences

Why Study Drug Use?

-Prevalence rates

-consequences of use

-drug effects/ abuse potential

-risk factors for use

Types Of Research Designs

-descriptive/correlational: Positive and negative, move in same direction or in opposite directions

-experimental: IV and DV, experimental and control groups

- quasi- experimental: affects behaviors, no random assignment

General Issues with Human Subject Research

Risk/ Benefit: need to outweigh chances of risk, lower risk better the benefit

Informed Consent: Tell what risks are and if they'd like to continue, be careful around people who are long time substance users

Subject Selection; experience with drug, but no addiction, drug naive, people already using but also offer treatment, but not people who are in recovery

Confidentiality: # of precautions, data leakage, give people numbers, usually federal funding

Deception: researcher doesn't fully inform about what they may experience, need to tell truth at the end

Payment: compensation for participating

Do drug users have impaired capacity to provide consent?

-Drug users self report no impairments

-Most research finds drug users to have similar recall of IC as non- drug users

Paying Drug Users Coercive?

-Financial motivations do play a part in participating but money alone is not enough

-Cash vs. Non cash payments did not alter drug use or perceptions of coerciveness but increase retention

Who monitors/approves ethical research

_ Institution Review Boards (IRB)

-Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC)

Measuring nonhuman behavior

-Spontaneous motor activity

-Stereotyped behavior : rats bob heads

-Paw licks : pain relief

-Elevated plus maze :reduced anxiety

Ratio

Number of behaviors

-fixed ratio; same number of behaviors over and over

-variable ratio; set of numbers change overtime find average over trials

Interval

passage of time

-fixed interval; set amount of passage of time: runs for 5 minutes and gets a reward and repeat

-variable interval; passage of time, average time over : 4 times a year, never know when it is coming

classical conditioning

Associative learning

-relative to tolerance and withdrawal

-conditioned ---> unconditioned

-the CS predicts the US

-the UR is the same as CR ( most of time)

-CR preparing for the US

Operant Conditioning

-consequence learning

-relevant to reinforcement value of drugs

-1.) what is the persons original behavior? Increasing or Decreasing?

-2.) does the consequence of behavior involve something being added or removed?

disciminative stimulus

In environment to behave someway in its presence or absence. " if a cop is around you slow down'

Pharmacology

Scientific study of the actions of drugs and their effects on a living organism

Psychopharmacology

Scientific study of the actions and their effects on behavior

Pharmacokinetics

The process by which drugs are absorbed, distributed within the body, metabolized, and excreted.

What is a Drug?

A substance that is taken deliberately that alters the physiology of the body but is not a food or nutrient and is not taken for taste or sustenance.

-to get high and achieve certain feelings or to treat disorder

-Psychoactive Drug: drug that affects processes like thoughts memories and behaviors

Drug Names

chemical- molecular structure

generic- legal name

trade- trademark name

Drug Effects

Depends on:

Types of drugs

Dosage

Route of administration

The user

Dose Response Curves

Understand the full range of physiological and behavioral effects of a drug

Threshold

Minimum dose required for any effect

Efficacy

Maximum effect obtainable

Potency

Dose required to elicit an effective response, dose on average for relief

Slope

Depicts the difference in dosage between eliciting a small effect and maximal effect

Shallow: change dose substainally to see an effect

Steep: change dose a bit and see effect

Drug Safety

ED50: Therapeutic, median effective dose

LD50: Toxic, median lethal dose

Therapeutic Index : LD50/ED50

-Smaller number is dangerous

-Larger number hard to overdose on

Routes of Administration

Affects of Bioavailability: portion of original drug dose that reaches site of action. How much will it take for the drug to reach the brain for effects?

Oral

safe, all of drug doesn't enter bloodstream, takes longer to work, but lasts longer

-lower bioavailability

Rectal

not common, used when person is unconscious or vomiting

Transdermal

skin, usually mixed with something to be absorbed

-nicotine patch, fetynal patch

-delay to effects but long lasting

Mucous

snorting, absorbs in mucous membrane in nose or put in mouth to dissolve

-cocaine

-intermediate, quicker than oral but not like inhalation

-shorter than oral

Inhalation

smoking, inhaling smoke with drug molecules from lungs to blood; moth, tobacco

-fast doesn't last long, low bioavailability

Injection

right into blood, short length, instant

Distribution of Drug

Receptors in brain

-reaches through bloodstream

At any time, only a small portion of total amount of drug is in contact with receptors

-most drug found is areas of the body remote from site of action

-explains side effects

Influence of Lipid Solubility

High lipid soluble: can be readily passed through membranes to blood

Low lipid soluble: cant be readily absorbed and passed through membranes, usually stay in water and break down

-drugs really lipid soluble, our body fat takes it in and not effects administered. Releases it in small amount, reduces bioavailability

Termination of Drug Action

Most drug leaves body through urine

-either as unchanged molecule or as metabolite

-involves kidney and liver

Half Life

Period of time required for the concentration of a drug in body to be reduced by half

-usually eliminated in body by 6 half lives

Drug Testing

The metabolite of a drug is in our body, cant say specifically what drug is used because many drugs have the same metabolite

-high lipid solubility makes it stay in systems longer

Placebo

Nothing about drug is creating it, you are expecting effects

-feeling more awake after sip of coffee

-placebo is wanted

Nocebo Effect

An effect that is being experienced but not a wanted one

-jittery from coffee, side effect

Drug Scheduling

Schedule I: High abuse potential and no current medical uses.

II: High abuse potential, but there are current medical uses.

III: Slightly less abuse potential, but high psychological dependence.

IV: Even less abuse potential

V: Even less abuse potential

Hindbrain

Medulla

-coordinates basic life support systems

Cerebellum

-balance and motor control

* affected by depressants and sedative drugs

Midbrain

Center for control of important sensory and motor reflexes

-Substantia Nigra

- control of body movements

Ventral Tegmental Area (VTA)

-cognition, motivation, addiction, intense emotion

Forebrain

Basal Ganglia

-includes the nucleus accumbens and striatum

-motor movements

-plays role in dopamine

Hypothalamus

-motivatied behaviors for survival, homeostasis

Limbic System

-hippocampus and amygala

-memory, emotion, reward

Prefrontal Cortex

-complex cognitive behavior, personality, decision making, and social behavior

Neurons

Communicate with another to govern behavior.

Dendrites; get a chemical message from the neuron in front of it

messages passed down to axon to the terminal buttons then release neurotransmitters

-synapse; space between neurons

Neuronal Communication

-Electrochemical Event

-Action Potential

intra-neuron process, passing electrical current to another neuron

electrical signal

occurs during opening of ion channels

-Neurotransmission

interneuron process

chemical signals

Reuptake

Neurotransmitters are reabsorbed back into the presynaptic neuron after they have transmitted a signal to the postsynaptic neuron

Drugs and Neurotransmission

-drugs can effect release of neurotransmitters

-drugs either speed up or slow down or block reuptake process

-increase or decrease how much enzyme is in neurotransmitter

-some drugs look similar to neurotransmitters molecularly, and can get into the synapse pretending to be it, to pass along a message that does not belong. Or they can block the real neurotransmitter to pass message.

Agonist

Drug increases action of neurotransmitter and availability

Antagonist

Drug decreases action of neurotransmitter and availability

Major Neurotransmitters

Acetylcholine- Nicotine

Serotonin and Epinephrine: Psychedelic drugs

Endorphins: opioids

Glutamine: alcohol

Dopamine: 2 major pathways dopamine is released

-Nigrostriatal: motor movements

-mesolimbic: reward

Drug Tolerance

Progressively decreasing responsiveness to a drug

Pharmacokinetic tolerance

increased metabolism due to regular use.

-before drug reaches brain and destroys it, have to take larger dose so it doesn't break down as fast (enzymes)

Pharmacodynamic tolerance

NT adjustments to compensate for drug effects

-shut down dopamine receptors and neurotransmitters

Conditioned tolerance

classical conditioning of environmental cues to predict drug, and elicits CR opposite to UR

-conditioned response is not the effect of the drug itself, but the body's attempt to resist it

-explains human overdose

Cross tolerance

tolerance effect for one drug can automatically induce tolerance for another

occurs because different drugs may bind to the same receptors in brain

Sensitization

"reverse tolerance"

in some cases the effect of the drug may increase with repeated administrations of the same drug

- may be conditioned, similar to tolerance

Withdrawal

Compensatory adjustments of homeostatic mechanisms to the effects of drugs after administrations

-physical and mental symptoms from opposite drug effects by not using

all symptoms are negative

Withdrawal and Opponent Process Theory

-Drug stimulates A process ( euphoria, stimulation)

-Compensatory B process evoked ( dysphoria, sedation)

-With continuous use, A process remains constant but B process strengthens

-A process: drug effect, never changes

-B process: cancels out A process, changes over-time

OPT and Classical Conditioning

CSa; previously neutral stimuli preceding A state

-independently capable of producing pleasurable A process and ultimately B process

-Drug effect, a process

CBs: previously neutral stimuli preceding B state

-independently capable of producing aversive b process

-environmental effect, process, withdrawal

What is Craving

1.) urge reflects a broader spectrum, craving is an urge but really strong

2.) reinforcing effects, intent to use drugs

3.) stable or momentarily- depends

Basic Theories of Addiction

Drugs are administered because they act as reinforcers

-Problem: Positive reinforcement paradox: when reinforcing behavior with rewards can lead to negative outcomes

Opponent Process Theory

Effects of drug automatically counteracted by opposing actions in the body (to maintain homeostasis)

-Explains compulsive drug use as a negative reinforcement process

-A process: Driven by brain rewards systems

-B process: Craving, driven by anitreward systems

-Both withdrawal and craving

OPT cont

- B lasts a long time and is extremely adverse

-eliciting A process is effective in removing B process

- drug users learn to use the drug to elicit A to rid of B

-amounts of drug used need to increase to keep A-B greater than 0

-exposure to both CSa and CSb ultimately result in more craving

-explains challenges of quitting: weaken b to withstand A

Hedonic Dysregulation Theory

-A process: driven by brain reward systems: positive emotions

-B process: driven by brain anit-reward systems: negative emotions

Homeostasis: optimal constant set point

Allostasis: Changing set point in response to environment

-More A and B elicited the more our mood goes down

-Tolerance goes up as allostatic goes down

-experiencing bad mood all the time, not momentarily

-need to increase dose (A) to feel something, but also (B) goes down more

incentive-sensitization theory

-Positive Reinforcement

-seeking out reward, not about positive mood

-No A or B process

-Dopamine = positive reinforcement

Motivational Circuitry

1.) need state detected by motivation control system

2.) discovery of reward causes release of dopamine (reward related stimuli acquire incentive salience)

3.) when future need state arises, general activity increases but behavior is guided more toward reward- related stimuli

4.) simply observing these reward- related stimuli releases dopamine ( results in approach behavior, even if not in need state)

Incentive Salience

cues associated with reward, quickly grab attention in future, faster (CS)

Dopamine

-nothing to do with learning

-positive reinforcement

-reward DOES NOT equal pleasure

-reward and reinforcement neurtransmitter

Dopamine Release

1.) When there is a homeostatic need (activates motor behavior)

2.) When we were rewarded (to develop incentive salience)

3.) To signal reward is in the environment ( craving)

Drugs as Reinforcers

-Satiatied Mechanism: "fullness", how you feel full when you drink water so you do not want anymore, not the case with drugs

-Immediacy/ intensity; more dopamine response if drug is much higher than in natural resources

Incentive Sensitization Theory & Motivational Control System

-Motivational circuitry helps us get our need met (reward) when we have a homeostatic need

-when rewarded, dopamine is released to develop incentive salience

-activated even when not in a need state

-sensitization results in huge dopamine surge in response to drug related cues

-positive reinforcement; substance use maintained due to addiction of motivational sensitization

Incentive Sensitization Theory & Motivational Control System CONT

-homeostatic input: drug to get homestatic

- U.T.A + N.A = release of dopamine to basal ganglia

-Basal Ganglia = triggers motor movement

-Hippocampus + Amygala= release drug feelings to memory

-ALL of this will remind one where they get drug from (CS)

-incentive salience so strong activates entire circuitry when reward is " near"

- explains compulsive drug use

-silent on withdrawal

Types of Cognitive Processing

- Controlled Processing

Dependent on attention

Slow

Flexible

Subject controlled

Serial

-Automatic Processing

Independent of attention

Fast

Stimulus bound

Somewhat beyond subject controlled

Parallel

Cognitive Processing Model

Schemata: mental framework that tells you how to behave, automatic drug use action plan

- Theory explains most instances of repeated compulsive substance use behavior as automatic processes that're triggered by various environmental stimuli. When triggered, activates automatic drug use behavior.

-Habitual

-ONLY automatic behaviors are stored in this schemata

-Craving is conceptualized as controlled processes

-most of time, we are not using because of craving, but not ignoring it

Cognitive Processing Model and Craving

-Schemata is involunarily or voluntarily blocked

-The mental effort needed to engage and deal with blockages is the craving

- using because of habit not craving

-craving not apart of schemata, only when blocked