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Sign tracking predicts suboptimal behavior in a rodent gambling task.

Megan Swintosky1, James T Brennan1, Corrine Koziel1

  • 1Department of Neuroscience, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.

Psychopharmacology
|June 30, 2021
PubMed
Summary

Sign tracking behavior predicts risky and impulsive choices in gambling tasks. This suggests cue reactivity may indicate vulnerability to pathological gambling and inform treatment efficacy.

Keywords:
AmphetamineCueDecisionDopamineGamblingImpulsivityRatRewardRiskSign tracking

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Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Behavioral Science
  • Addiction Research

Background:

  • Reward-associated cues can drive maladaptive behaviors like risky decision-making in gambling.
  • Sign tracking, a tendency to interact with reward cues over reward sites, indicates motivational value transfer to cues.
  • The link between sign tracking and risky decision-making is not well understood.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate if sign tracking predicts risky choice behavior.
  • To examine the effects of dopaminergic drugs on gambling behavior in sign-tracking versus goal-tracking rats.

Main Methods:

  • Rats were assessed for sign tracking using a Pavlovian conditioned approach task.
  • Rats were trained on a rodent gambling task (rGT) with reward-predictive cues.
  • The effects of D-amphetamine, quinpirole, and PD128907 on gambling behavior were evaluated.

Main Results:

  • Higher sign tracking correlated with poorer performance on the rGT, including more high-risk choices and impulsive decisions.
  • D-amphetamine altered choice allocation, while quinpirole and PD128907 reduced impulsivity.
  • Drug effects on gambling behavior were consistent between sign-tracking and goal-tracking rats.

Conclusions:

  • Sign tracking, a measure of cue reactivity, is a significant predictor of risky and impulsive choices in cue-rich gambling environments.
  • Assessing sign tracking behavior could help identify individuals susceptible to pathological gambling.
  • Sign tracking may also predict treatment effectiveness for gambling disorders.