Learned associations between drug effects and the people, places, and paraphernalia (cues) linked with drug experiences are a major barrier to the treatment of drug addiction. These links are remarkably persistent and can cause relapse to drug taking even after long periods of abstinence. They are also key features in some of the foremost theories of addiction, yet there is little clinical evidence of how these associations are formed and how they come to profoundly control behavior. The long-term goal of this research is to understand how drug cues become powerfully linked with drug experiences and their influence on mood and behavior. In the proposed project, the investigators will use a de novo conditioning paradigm to examine the influence of drug contexts on drug seeking, mood and acute drug responses. The hypothesis is that drug-paired contexts gain motivational salience, induce approach, and alter acute subjective responses to the drug.This knowledge will lead to novel treatment strategies to counteract the effects of drug cues on mood and behavior, and also to prevent relapse.
