Project Details
Projekt
Learning and decision-making as predictors for the development of alcohol use disorders
Subject Area
Biological Psychiatry
Term
from 2012 to 2020
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 186318919
Hazardous alcohol use and alcohol use disorders (AUDs) are prevalent in industrialized countries, affecting approximately 6 million individuals in Germany alone. Given that the onset of AUDs predominantly occurs during adolescence and early adulthood, targeted prevention is desirable, especially in young people who are at high risk of developing AUDs. Currently, little is known about the factors that predispose individuals to AUD; therefore this project aims to identify mechanisms underlying liability for dysfunctional alcohol consumption (i.e. hazardous alcohol use, alcohol abuse and alcohol dependence). Based on the hypothesis that addiction is a disorder attributed to aberrant learning and decision-making, we predict that inter-individual differences in learning behaviour and decision-making are associated with liability for, as well as resilience against AUD. To test our hypotheses, we characterized 200 young men at age 18 during the first funding period, and will prospectively assess alcohol consumption and development of AUDs during the three year follow-up period; at age 21 all subjects will be reassessed with behavioural tests and imaging. At baseline, we studied three clusters of predictive variables: (i) individual learning parameters, estimated by computational modelling of behavioural performance in learning tasks such as Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer and a two stage Markov decision task; (ii) individual neural correlates of these learning parameters, assessed by functional brain imaging during learning; and (iii) established risk factors such as family history of alcoholism and different facets of impulsivity and value-based decision-making.
DFG Programme
Research Units
