High Impulsivity Predicts the Switch to Compulsive Cocaine-taking

Overview

Journal Science

Specialty Science

Date 2008 Jun 7

PMID 18535246

Citations 455

Authors

David Belin

Adam C Mar

Jeffrey W Dalley

Trevor W Robbins

Barry J Everitt

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Both impulsivity and novelty-seeking have been suggested to be behavioral markers of the propensity to take addictive drugs. However, their relevance for the vulnerability to compulsively seek and take drugs, which is a hallmark feature of addiction, is unknown. We report here that, whereas high reactivity to novelty predicts the propensity to initiate cocaine self-administration, high impulsivity predicts the development of addiction-like behavior in rats, including persistent or compulsive drug-taking in the face of aversive outcomes. This study shows experimental evidence that a shift from impulsivity to compulsivity occurs during the development of addictive behavior, which provides insights into the genesis and neural mechanisms of drug addiction.

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