Biology subjects

Garbusow, M.

Publications and source records attributed to Garbusow, M..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2026

Enhanced Alcohol-Specific but not General Pavlovian-to-Instrumental Transfer in Alcohol Use Disorder

Background: Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer (PIT) paradigms assess how environmental cues influence instrumental behaviour. Our previous research linked PIT to alcohol use disorder (AUD) and high-risk drinking using monetary rewards during learning. To better capture alcohol-related cue effects, we developed a PIT paradigm delivering trial-by-trial alcohol and juice rewards alongside monetary rewards, to examine alcohol-specific and general PIT effects in parallel. Methods: Seventy-five participants with AUD and ninety-five controls completed the task during functional magnetic resonance imaging. Alcohol-specific PIT was defined as increased alcohol choices during presentation of alcohol-associated versus juice-associated cues. General PIT was defined as increased response vigor during gain- versus loss-associated cues. Behavioural and neural associations with AUD status and AUDIT scores from baseline through one-year follow-up were examined. Results: Participants with AUD showed stronger alcohol-specific PIT effect than controls. Alcohol-specific PIT was positively associated with baseline AUDIT scores and with AUDIT scores across the one-year follow-up. Alcohol cues elicited stronger anterior insula responses, and region-of-interest analysis showed greater left amygdala responses to alcohol versus juice cues in AUD compared with controls. In contrast, general PIT showed a negative association with AUDIT but no association with AUD status. In the general PIT, no AUD-related neural differences were observed. Conclusions: These findings suggest that alcohol-specific PIT captures a clinically meaningful mechanism of cue-driven alcohol seeking that is distinct from generalized motivational transfer, supporting its potential utility as a mechanistic marker in AUD.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2025

Counterconditioning Alcohol Cues: Neural and Behavioral Modulation of Automatic Tendencies and Pavlovian-to-Instrumental Transfer in Male Alcohol Users

ObjectiveRepeated alcohol-cue pairings with rewarding experiences establish automatic response tendencies that bias instrumental behavior through Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer (PIT). How individual differences in approach and avoidance tendencies shape PIT and intervention responsiveness remains poorly understood. This study examined whether automatic tendencies differentially modulate PIT, and whether counterconditioning (CC) combined with retrieval cues can attenuate approach biases and cue-driven instrumental interference. MethodThirty-nine male alcohol users completed an Alcohol Approach-Avoidance Task and PIT task before and after CC, classified into approach or avoidance groups based on their baseline Alcohol Approach Index. Alcohol cues were paired with monetary loss during CC, with retrieval cues introduced to facilitate reactivation of newly formed aversive associations. Right frontal N2 and centroparietal P3 were examined as indices of early evaluative and attentional processing. ResultsDespite comparable behavioral PIT performance, approach-oriented individuals showed attenuated right frontal N2 during push actions at baseline, reflecting reduced frontal regulatory engagement during cue-incongruent responding. CC selectively reduced approach biases in the approach group, with retrieval cues producing additional reductions, accompanied by N2 and P3 restoration. CC recalibrated PIT interference by reducing push and increasing pull interference, particularly with retrieval cues. CC-induced changes in approach bias did not predict PIT interference, suggesting modulation through partially dissociable pathways. ConclusionsCC with retrieval cues selectively reduced approach biases and recalibrated cue-driven instrumental interference in approach-oriented individuals, providing proof-of-concept for retrieval cue-integrated CC as a targeted associative intervention and highlighting the importance of individual tendency profiles in intervention responsiveness.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2023

Aberrant functional brain network organization is associated with relapse during 1-year follow-up in alcohol-dependent patients

Alcohol dependence (AD) is a debilitating disease associated with high relapse rates even after long periods of abstinence. Thus, elucidating neurobiological substrates of relapse risk is fundamental for the development of novel targeted interventions that could promote long-lasting abstinence. In the present study, we analyzed resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rsfMRI) data from a sample of recently detoxified AD patients (n = 93) who were followed-up for 12 months after rsfMRI assessment. Specifically, we employed graph theoretic analyses to compare functional brain network topology and functional connectivity between future relapsers (REL, n = 59), future abstainers (ABS, n = 28) and age and gender matched controls (CON, n = 83). Our results suggest increased whole-brain network segregation, decreased global network integration and overall blunted connectivity strength in REL compared to CON. Conversely, we found evidence for a comparable network architecture in ABS relative to CON. At the nodal level, REL exhibited decreased integration and decoupling between multiple brain systems compared to CON, encompassing regions associated with higher-order executive functions, sensory and reward processing. Among AD patients, increased coupling between nodes implicated in reward valuation and salience attribution constitutes a particular risk factor for future relapse. Importantly, aberrant network organization in REL was consistently associated with shorter abstinence duration during follow-up, portending to a putative neural signature of relapse risk in AD. Future research should further evaluate the potential diagnostic value of the identified changes in network topology and functional connectivity for relapse prediction at the individual subject level.

neuroscience↗