THE EFFECTS OF REDUCED CIGARETTE SMOKING ON DISCOUNTING FUTURE REWARDS: AN INITIAL EVALUATION.

To determine whether reduction of smoking via contingency management in dependent smokers would decrease the discounting of delayed reinforcers compared with smokers who did not reduce their smoking, moderate to heavy cigarette smokers were randomly assigned to one of two conditions: a contingency management condition and a control condition. In three phases (baseline discounting determination for hypothetical money and cigarettes, implementation of a contingency management or control condition, and postintervention discounting determination), the procedure to reinforce reduction in cigarette smoking produced CO decreases in all subjects exposed to that procedure. Discounting decreased significantly for both cigarettes and money among the group for whom smoking reductions were reinforced, whereas the control group showed no significant change for either commodity.

Altered states: the impact of immediate craving on the valuation of current and future opioids.

Based on prior research showing that people underestimate the influence of motivational states they are not currently experiencing, we predicted and found that heroin addicts would value an extra dose of the heroin substitute Buprenorphine more highly when they were currently craving (right before receiving BUP) than when they were currently satiated (right after receiving BUP) -- even when the extra BUP was to be received 5 days later. If addicts cannot appreciate the intensity of craving when they are not currently experiencing it, as these results suggest, it seems unlikely that those who have never experienced craving could predict its motivational force. Under-appreciation of craving by non-addicts may contribute to initial decisions to experiment with drugs.

Neuroactive steroids, negative affect, and nicotine dependence severity in male smokers.

Rationale: Nicotine administration alters neuroactive steroids in rodent models, and serum levels of the neuroactive steroid DHEAS (dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate) appear to be higher in smokers. These molecules may be relevant to tobacco addiction and affective symptoms.

Objectives: This study aims to investigate DHEAS, allopregnanolone, pregnenolone, and other steroids in male smokers to determine potential associations with nicotine dependence severity and negative affect.

Risk-sensitive foraging theory elucidates risky choices made by heroin addicts.

Aim: The behavioral process of risk-sensitive foraging (RSF) specifies that the level of satiation or deprivation determines choice between a constant and variable quantity of food. Specifically, RSF stipulates that organisms experiencing satiation and deprivation prefer constant (risk-averse) and variable (risk-prone) choices, respectively. The relevance of this behavioral process to risky choices of opioid-dependent patients is examined in this study.

Psychological aspects of persistent pain: current state of the science.

Unlabelled: This article provides an overview of current research on psychological aspects of persistent pain. It is divided into 3 sections. In section 1, recent studies are reviewed that provide evidence that psychological factors are related to adjustment to persistent pain.

Mild opioid deprivation increases the degree that opioid-dependent outpatients discount delayed heroin and money.

Rationale: A growing literature suggests that excessive temporal discounting of delayed rewards may be a contributing factor in the etiology of substance abuse problems. Little is known, however, about how drug deprivation may affect temporal discounting of delayed rewards by drug-dependent individuals.

Objective: To examine the extent to which opioid deprivation affects how opioid-dependent individuals discount small, medium and large quantities of delayed heroin and money.