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Associative learning ability predicts reward-based decision-making performance in opiate dependent individuals

Daniel J. Upton1* and Robert Hester1
  • 1 University of Melbourne, Psychological Sciences, Australia

Background: Learning to identify the best choice alternatives from experience requires intact associative learning ability. Methods: In this study, we examined whether recall performance in an associative learning task was related to opiate dependent individuals’ (n=28) ability to learn to make advantageous choices in the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT); a complex decision task commonly used to study decision processes in substance dependence. Results: We show that the rate of learning to choose advantageously in the IGT was strongly correlated with recall performance in the associative learning task. Discussion: These results suggest that important variation in learning and memory performance exists between opiate dependent individuals, and that this variation may be important for understanding reward-based learning and decision-making in this population.

Keywords: Decision Making, associative learning, substance dependence, Addiction, opiate dependence, choice behaviour, Iowa Gambling Task, IGT

Conference: ACNS-2013 Australasian Cognitive Neuroscience Society Conference, Clayton, Melbourne, Australia, 28 Nov - 1 Dec, 2013.

Presentation Type: Poster

Topic: Executive Processes

Citation: Upton DJ and Hester R (2013). Associative learning ability predicts reward-based decision-making performance in opiate dependent individuals. Conference Abstract: ACNS-2013 Australasian Cognitive Neuroscience Society Conference. doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2013.212.00094

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Received: 25 Sep 2013; Published Online: 25 Nov 2013.

* Correspondence: Dr. Daniel J Upton, University of Melbourne, Psychological Sciences, Melbourne, Victoria, 3052, Australia, daniel.upton@unimelb.edu.au