Cited by 39Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on BehaviorSubstance Abuse Treatment and OutcomesDecision-Making and Behavioral Economics

Individual decision-making in the causal pathway to addiction: contributions and limitations of rodent models

Ahmed, Serge H.·2018·Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior

Abstract

The causal pathway from vulnerability to drug use and addiction involves a complex interaction between genetic, environmental, and behavioral factors. An individual can intervene on this causal pathway by two major types of individual decision. There is the inaugural, momentous decision to use a drug for the first time. This decision is influenced by both prior knowledge on the drug and its expected effects, and also by prior self-knowledge on one's own vulnerability. After an individual has used a drug for the first time, there is the decision to repeat drug use. This decision is influenced by the same factors that were involved in the inaugural decision to initiate drug use, except for one crucial difference. The first drug use has now acted on the individual, changing its brain acutely and also potentially persistently in a way that could bias subsequent decision-making in favor of repeated drug use. The goal of this review article is to assess the contributions and limitations of rodent models (i.e., rats, mice) to understand how prior drug use can influence decision-making in a way that favors future drug use. Overall, research on rodents shows that prior drug use can increase impulsive, risky and/or potentially harmful decision-making. However, this does not apparently translate into more drug use when rodents have the choice between a drug and a competing, nondrug option, except when the expected value of the latter is considerably decreased. The delayed drug reward hypothesis is developed to resolve and explain this apparent discrepancy. This novel hypothesis makes several unique predictions, some of them counterintuitive, and suggests that extrapolation of rodent research to humans should not only take into account differences in drug choice situations but also inherent species-specific differences in individual decision-making.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1016/j.pbb.2017.07.005

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162 of 162 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

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  • In rodent studies, choice procedures are resistant to disruption, and a large proportion of rats continue to select a sweet solution rather than the drug even after clear establishment of dependence.

    “In rodent studies, choice procedures are notoriously resistant to disruption, and a large proportion of rats continue to select a sweet solution (e.g., saccharin) rather than the drug even after the clear establishment of dependence (Lenoir et al., 2013;Ahmed, 2018).”

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Cited by

Authors
Ahmed, S. H.
Affiliations
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
Corresponding author
Ahmed, Serge H.
Venue
Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2018-01
Volume
164
Pages
22-31
ISSN
0091-3057 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2735140391
Cited by
39
References
162
Citations by year
2026: 1 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 7 · 2020: 11 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 4 · 2017: 2
FWCI
0.74
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
  • Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • HAL (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • French Research Council (CNRS)
  • Université de Bordeaux, the French National Agency ((ANR-12-SAMA-003)
  • Fondation pour la Recherche Médicale (FRM DPA20140629788)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Substance Abuse Treatment and Outcomes
  • Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › General Decision Sciences › Decision-Making and Behavioral Economics
Keywords
drug addiction, individual decision-making, rodent models, drug initiation, relapse, impulsivity, risk-taking, species differences, addiction vulnerability
MeSH terms
Animals, Decision Making, Disease Models, Animal, Humans, Impulsive Behavior, Reward, Rodentia, Causality, Substance-Related Disorders

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