Journal article
Habit, choice, and addiction.
- Vandaele Y Department of Psychiatry, Lausanne University Hospital, Lausanne, Switzerland. youna.vandaele@chuv.ch.
- Ahmed SH Institut des Maladies Neurodégénératives, Université de Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France.
- 2020-11-10
Published in:
- Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology. - 2020
English
Addiction was suggested to emerge from the progressive dominance of habits over goal-directed behaviors. However, it is generally assumed that habits do not persist in choice settings. Therefore, it is unclear how drug habits may persist in real-world scenarios where this factor predominates. Here, we discuss the poor translational validity of the habit construct, which impedes our ability to determine its role in addiction. New evidence of habitual behavior in a drug choice setting are then described and discussed. Interestingly, habitual preference did not promote drug choice but instead favored abstinence. Here, we propose several clues to reconcile these unexpected results with the habit theory of addiction, and we highlight the need in experimental research to face the complexity of drug addicts' decision-making environments by investigating drug habits in the context of choice and in the presence of cues. On a theoretical level, we need to consider more complex frameworks, taking into account continuous interactions between goal-directed and habitual systems, and alternative decision-making models more representative of real-world conditions.
- Language
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- English
- Open access status
- closed
- Identifiers
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- DOI 10.1038/s41386-020-00899-y
- PMID 33168946
- Persistent URL
- https://sonar.ch/global/documents/278287
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