Behavioral Momentum and Relapse of Ethanol Seeking: Non-Drug Reinforcement in a Context Increases Relative Reinstatement

摘要

Drug-related stimuli appear to contribute to the persistence of drug seeking and relapse. Behavioral momentum theory is a framework for understanding how the discriminative-stimulus context in which operant behavior occurs governs the persistence of that behavior. The theory suggests that both resistance to change and relapse are governed by the Pavlovian stimulus-reinforcer relation between a stimulus context and all sources of reinforcement obtained in that context. The present experiment examined the role of the Pavlovian stimulus-reinforcer relation in reinstatement of ethanol seeking of rats by including added response-independent non-drug reinforcement in the self-administration context. Although rates of ethanol-maintained responding were lower in a context with added non-drug reinforcement than a context with ethanol alone, relative resistance to extinction and relative reinstatement were greater in the context previously associated with the non-drug reinforcer. Thus, both relative resistance to extinction and relative relapse of ethanol seeking depended upon the Pavlovian stimulus-reinforcer relation between a context and all sources of reinforcement in that context. These findings suggest that in order to understand how drug-related contexts contribute to relapse, it may be necessary to consider not only the history of drug reinforcement in a context, but also the wide variety of other reinforcers obtained in such contexts.