Drug-related preference in cocaine addiction extends...(ages taken from the four decks. On b...),Health

On both tasks, the cocaine-addicted individuals chose the cocaine-related images more than the healthy controls, who showed clear aversion to these images. In addition, on the implicit task, healthy control subjects chose pleasant images more than the cocaine-addicted subjects.

Interestingly, cocaine-addicted individuals' self-reported ratings of how pleasant they thought a picture was did not fully explain these results, nor were these ratings entirely consistent with their choice behavior. For example, while cocaine-addicted individuals rated pleasant images as more pleasant than the cocaine-related images, at the group level they still chose from these two picture categories at the same rates on both tasks. This suggests that drug-addicted individuals may not be fully aware of their own choice behavior or that drug choice in addicted individuals may not be fully driven by the pleasure or reward they get from the drug, as is frequently assumed.

Further, the cocaine-addicted individuals with the greater preference for cocaine-related images over pleasant ones had used cocaine more frequently in the previous month. This finding suggests these tasks could serve as objective measures of the severity of drug use (which, to date, has been measured primarily by self-report).

"Tasks like the ones developed here could be used clinically to predict the effectiveness and outcomes of drug-addiction treatment, including abstinence or relapse," Goldstein said.

As a follow-up, she added, "Simultaneous neuroimaging studies are needed to investigate the brain structures that underlie choices made by drug-addicted individuals."

'/>"/>