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Long-term behavioural rewriting of maladaptive drinking memories via reconsolidation-update mechanisms

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 June 2020

Grace Gale ,
Katie Walsh ,
Vanessa E. Hennessy ,
L. E. Stemerding ,
Koa Sher Ni ,
Emily Thomas ,
Sunjeev K. Kamboj  and
Ravi K. Das Open the ORCID record for Ravi K. Das [Opens in a new window]
Grace Gale
Affiliation:
Clinical, Educational and Health Psychology, UCL, 26 Bedford Way, LondonWC1H 0AP, UK
Katie Walsh
Affiliation:
Clinical, Educational and Health Psychology, UCL, 26 Bedford Way, LondonWC1H 0AP, UK
Vanessa E. Hennessy
Affiliation:
Clinical, Educational and Health Psychology, UCL, 26 Bedford Way, LondonWC1H 0AP, UK
L. E. Stemerding
Affiliation:
Clinical, Educational and Health Psychology, UCL, 26 Bedford Way, LondonWC1H 0AP, UK
Koa Sher Ni
Affiliation:
Clinical, Educational and Health Psychology, UCL, 26 Bedford Way, LondonWC1H 0AP, UK
Emily Thomas
Affiliation:
Clinical, Educational and Health Psychology, UCL, 26 Bedford Way, LondonWC1H 0AP, UK
Sunjeev K. Kamboj
Affiliation:
Clinical, Educational and Health Psychology, UCL, 26 Bedford Way, LondonWC1H 0AP, UK
Ravi K. Das*
Affiliation:
Clinical, Educational and Health Psychology, UCL, 26 Bedford Way, LondonWC1H 0AP, UK
*
Author for correspondence: Ravi K. Das, E-mail: ravi.das@ucl.ac.uk
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Abstract

Background

Alcohol use disorders can be conceptualised as a learned pattern of maladaptive alcohol-consumption behaviours. The memories encoding these behaviours centrally contribute to long-term excessive alcohol consumption and are therefore an important therapeutic target. The transient period of memory instability sparked during memory reconsolidation offers a therapeutic window to directly rewrite these memories using targeted behavioural interventions. However, clinically-relevant demonstrations of the efficacy of this approach are few. We examined key retrieval parameters for destabilising naturalistic drinking memories and the ability of subsequent counterconditioning to effect long-term reductions in drinking.

Methods

Hazardous/harmful beer-drinking volunteers (N = 120) were factorially randomised to retrieve (RET) or not retrieve (No RET) alcohol reward memories with (PE) or without (No PE) alcohol reward prediction error. All participants subsequently underwent disgust-based counterconditioning of drinking cues. Acute responses to alcohol were assessed pre- and post-manipulation and drinking levels were assessed up to 9 months.

Results

Greater long-term reductions in drinking were found when counterconditioning was conducted following retrieval (with and without PE), despite a lack of short-term group differences in motivational responding to acute alcohol. Large variability in acute levels of learning during counterconditioning was noted. ‘Responsiveness’ to counterconditioning predicted subsequent responses to acute alcohol in RET + PE only, consistent with reconsolidation-update mechanisms.

Conclusions

The longevity of behavioural interventions designed to reduce problematic drinking levels may be enhanced by leveraging reconsolidation-update mechanisms to rewrite maladaptive memory. However, inter-individual variability in levels of corrective learning is likely to determine the efficacy of reconsolidation-updating interventions and should be considered when designing and assessing interventions.

Keywords

Addictionalcoholcounterconditioningexperimental medicinememoryreconsolidation
Type
Original Article
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 51 , Issue 16 , December 2021 , pp. 2875 - 2885
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

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