Cocaine Compromises Reward System, Study Suggests
November 16th, 2007 Posted by: Dr. Cox
A new study suggests that providing monetary rewards to cocaine users may not be an effective way to get them to overcome their addictions.
The study by researchers at Brookhaven National Laboratory found that cocaine users have less sensitivity to monetary rewards than nonusers. Moreover, researchers found that the heaviest cocaine users were least able to improve their behavior in response to monetary incentives.
“This altered sensitivity to reward may help explain why some drug-addicted individuals are unable to modify their drug-taking behavior, even in the face of well-understood negative consequences and/or positive incentives for behavioral change,” said Rita Goldstein, who runs the neuropsychoimaging lab at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory.
She added: “Individuals with such blunted neural and behavioral sensitivity to rewards may have a particularly difficult time responding to abstract incentives designed to motivate behavioral changes — especially when outside of a structured treatment environment or when rewards are not readily available or clearly contingent on behavior.”
The research was presented at the Society for Neuroscience annual meeting in San Diego last week.