Type
Text
Type
Dissertation
Advisor
Goldstein, Rita Z | Goldstein, Rita | Leung, Hoi-Chung | Anderson, Brenda | Luhmann, Christian | Tomasi, Dardo.
Date
2015-08-01
Keywords
Neurosciences | addiction, decision-making, dopamine, fMRI, neuroimaging, reward
Department
Department of Biopsychology.
Language
en_US
Source
This work is sponsored by the Stony Brook University Graduate School in compliance with the requirements for completion of degree.
Identifier
http://hdl.handle.net/11401/77013
Publisher
The Graduate School, Stony Brook University: Stony Brook, NY.
Format
application/pdf
Abstract
Cocaine addiction is a chronically relapsing disorder characterized by a compulsive drive to seek and ingest cocaine, often at the expense of negative personal or social consequences and other rewarding outcomes. As such, it has been hypothesized that addiction impacts the brain circuits necessary for exerting self-control and those involved in processing the incentive value of environmental stimuli. The present set of studies aims to explore the effects of chronic cocaine use on these functions, and the brain systems supporting them, using multimodal neuroimaging and behavioral assessments and the highly generalizable reinforcer, money. Study 1 examines the interplay between brain structure and reward value-related function using structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in healthy individuals and individuals with cocaine use disorders (CUD). To determine the specificity of dysfunction to value, and translation to actual decision making behavior, Study 2 uses behavioral economics to examine the influence of value and risk on decision-making in a second group of healthy individuals and individuals with CUD. Lastly, Study 3 examines the crosstalk between brain regions involved in value and risk processing during a task-independent state (i.e. | during resting-state) using functional connectivity MRI and tests whether a stimulant drug with a similar mechanism of action to cocaine but with lower abuse potential (i.e. | methylphenidate) can modify these connections in a third group of individuals with CUD. Results will be discussed in the context of the impact of chronic cocaine use on frontostriatal brain circuits, and potential amelioration with short-term methylphenidate. Individual differences (e.g. | disease severity, impulsivity) will also be discussed in the ways in which they may influence the relationship between brain and behavior. Together, these studies should strengthen our understanding of the impact of chronic cocaine use on value and risk assessment and may serve as an empirical foundation for the development of interventions targeting frontostriatal circuit dysfunction in cocaine addiction. | 79 pages
Recommended Citation
Konova, Anna Borisova, "Value and Risk Processing in Cocaine Addiction: Relationship to Brain Function, Structure, and Connectivity" (2015). Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions). 2875.
https://commons.library.stonybrook.edu/stony-brook-theses-and-dissertations-collection/2875