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A Comparison of Drug Conditioning and Craving for Alcohol and Cocaine

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Recent Developments in Alcoholism

Part of the book series: Recent Developments in Alcoholism ((RDIA,volume 10))

Abstract

Craving is a potentially important concept that is difficult to define and study in the laboratory. Although alcohol and cocaine are very different pharmacologically, this discussion emphasizes common factors in addiction to these drugs, such as the tendency of alcoholics and cocaine abusers to crave these substances. I review commonalities in drug conditioning and cue reactivity to alcohol and cocaine. Both drugs support Pavlovian conditioning when they are presented as unconditioned stimuli, whether studied in rodents or humans. In addition, both drugs are craved when abusers are presented with stimuli associated with these drugs. Finally, I propose a theoretical definition of craving based on autoshaping and sign-tracking phenomena that suggests a common mechanism of addiction to these drugs. This model defines craving as a reflection of sign tracking to internal and external stimuli that have in the past reliably predicted presentation of these drugs.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Etiology Branch, Addiction Research Center, National Institute on Drug Abuse, Baltimore, Maryland, 21224-2735, USA

    David B. Newlin

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  1. New York University School of Medicine, New York, New York, USA

    Marc Galanter

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Newlin, D.B. (1992). A Comparison of Drug Conditioning and Craving for Alcohol and Cocaine. In: Galanter, M. (eds) Recent Developments in Alcoholism. Recent Developments in Alcoholism, vol 10. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-1648-8_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-1648-8_8

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