Enhanced Alcohol-Specific but not General Pavlovian-to-Instrumental Transfer in Alcohol Use Disorder
- 1Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, TUD Dresden University of Technology, Dresden, Germany
Abstract
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.
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BibTeX
@misc{chen2026enhanced,
title = {{Enhanced Alcohol-Specific but not General Pavlovian-to-Instrumental Transfer in Alcohol Use Disorder}},
author = {H. Chen and C. Baeuchl and L. Thill and M. J. Belanger and M. Marxen and S. Krasniqi and M. Garbusow and E. Friedel and M. Pilhatsch and A. Heinz and M. N. Smolka},
howpublished = {bioRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.64898/2026.09.01.747514},
url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.01.747514v1},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Enhanced Alcohol-Specific but not General Pavlovian-to-Instrumental Transfer in Alcohol Use Disorder
AU - H. Chen
AU - C. Baeuchl
AU - L. Thill
AU - M. J. Belanger
AU - M. Marxen
AU - S. Krasniqi
AU - M. Garbusow
AU - E. Friedel
AU - M. Pilhatsch
AU - A. Heinz
AU - M. N. Smolka
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/01
PB - bioRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.09.01.747514
UR - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.01.747514v1
AB - 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.
ER -