What is the incentive salience hypothesis?

The Incentive-Salience Hypothesis in turn suggests that there is not hereditary dysfunction in reward circuits to nondrug cues. Rather, addiction occurs purely through drug-mediated sensitization of reward circuitry and overlearning of drug-associated cues.

What is the incentive sensitization model of addiction?

The incentive sensitization theory of addiction (Robinson & Berridge, 1993) proposes that addiction is a product of intense, aberrant motivational states of craving (excessive “wanting”) that have their origin in brain changes that occur after repeated exposure to addictive drugs.

What is Sensitisation in addiction?

Sensitization, also referred to as reverse tolerance, is a phenomenon in which following repeated exposure to the same dose of a particular drug of abuse, a specific behavioral, physiological, or cellular response increases, rather than decreases, over time.

What is the sensitization hypothesis?

The incentive-sensitization theory posits the essence of drug addiction to be excessive amplification specifically of psychological ‘wanting’, especially triggered by cues, without necessarily an amplification of ‘liking’.

What brain areas and neurotransmitters are involved in reward and incentive sensitization?

The mesolimbic dopamine pathway mediates the psychopharmacology of reward, whether that is a natural high or a drug-induced high, and is sometimes referred to as the pleasure center of the brain, with dopamine as the pleasure neurotransmitter.

What is reward pathway?

The reward pathway of the brain is connected to areas of the brain that control behavior and memory. It begins in the ventral tegmental area, where neurons release dopamine to make you feel pleasure. The brain begins to make connections between the activity and the pleasure, ensuring that we will repeat the behavior.

Who discovered incentive theory?

B.F. Skinner
The Incentive Theory of Motivation is a theory that is supported by many behavioural psychologists, the most distinguished one being B.F. Skinner.

What is incentive sensitisation?

What causes drug sensitisation?

Drug sensitisation occurs when a user experiences increased effects of a drug after repeated doses and becomes dependent on the substance. This is caused by changes taking place in the brain’s mesolimbic dopamine transmission.

What triggers the reward system in the brain?

The regions of the brain comprising the “reward system” use the neurotransmitter dopamine to communicate. Dopamine-producing neurons in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) communicate with neurons in the nucleus accumbens in order to evaluate rewards and motivate us to obtain them.

What is Incentive Sensitization Theory?

The incentive sensitization theory posits that sensitization-related changes in the brain are important for the transition from casual to compulsive drug use.

What is the difference between hypersensitization and incentive salience?

* Hypersensitization leads to incentive salience and the symptoms associated with addiction. The individual will now have a strong desire for the drug that goes way beyond liking it. * Incentive salience ensures repetition of the behavior. * The unconscious forces that drive the addiction become a conscious yearning for the drug.

What is incentive sensitivity to drugs?

Incentive sensitizationproduces a bias of attentional processing towards drug-associated stimuli and pathological motivation for drugs (compulsive ‘wanting’). When combined with impaired executive control over behaviour, incentive sensitization culminates in the core symptoms of addiction (Robinson & Berridge 1993, 2000, 2003).

Does incentive sensitivity spill over to other targets?

Finally, by spreading beyond the associative focus of wanting on drug targets, incentive sensitization can also sometimes spill over in animals or humans to other targets, such as food, sex, gambling, etc. (Mitchell & Stewart 1990; Fiorino & Phillips 1999a,b; Taylor & Horger 1999; Nocjar & Panksepp 2002).