# Testing Reinforcer Pathology: Mechanisms and Interventions to Change Alcohol Valuation

> **NIH NIH R01** · VIRGINIA POLYTECHNIC INST AND ST UNIV · 2020 · $709,520

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Developing a new generation of interventions for alcohol use disorder (AUD) constitutes an important scientific
gap and, if addressed, will open innovation opportunities. To address this gap, we propose to examine an
emerging novel framework for addiction, reinforcer pathology. Reinforcer pathology specifies that reinforcers are
integrated over a temporal window, and the length of that window determines the relative value of different
reinforcers. When the temporal window is short, reinforcers such as alcohol, which are brief, intense, and reliable,
will have greater value. Conversely, as the temporal window lengthens, other more temporally extended
reinforcers begin to have greater influence and alcohol valuation will decrease. The concept of reinforcer
pathology identifies the temporal window, measured with delay discounting (i.e., the decline in the value of a
reinforcer as a function of its delay), as a therapeutic target for AUD, and it permits target engagement via
innovative interventions (e.g., episodic future thinking; EFT) to provide novel insights into alcohol valuation. This
project uses multiple analytical levels (e.g., the behavioral laboratory, an outpatient field study, neuroimaging,
and computational modeling) to quantify, predict, and modulate alcohol valuation among individuals with AUD.
In Aim 1, we will examine manipulations that increase and decrease the temporal window to mechanistically test
the reinforcer pathology framework. In Aim 1a, we will examine the effects of an intervention that increases the
temporal window (EFT) on concomitant changes in alcohol valuation (self-administration, craving, and behavioral
economic alcohol demand). In addition, participants in Aim 1a will participate in a proof-of-concept field study,
where remote implementation of EFT will be used to impact alcohol drinking (measured by remote monitoring of
breath alcohol) in the natural environment. In Aim1b, we will examine the effects of a manipulation that decreases
the temporal window (simulation of economic scarcity) on concomitant changes in alcohol valuation. Throughout
Aim 1, neural activity associated with changes in the temporal window will also be examined. In Aim 2, we will
use multi-voxel analyses of fMRI data to explore two independent sub-aims related to reinforcer pathology in
AUD. First, in Aim 2a, we will build multivariate group regression models of fMRI delay discounting data in a
subset of participants with AUD to predict discounting in an independent subset of participants. Second, in Aim
2b, we will use real-time fMRI neurofeedback to enhance participants' ability to control their temporal window,
and hence their ability to modulate delay discounting and alcohol valuation. In Aim 3, we will model the temporal
window to extend the existing literature by computationally quantifying results from Aims 1 and 2 (Aim 3a), and
connecting subjective value to brain regions of interest using computational neuroscience (A...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10001412
- **Project number:** 5R01AA027381-02
- **Recipient organization:** VIRGINIA POLYTECHNIC INST AND ST UNIV
- **Principal Investigator:** Warren K Bickel
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $709,520
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-09-01 → 2024-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10001412

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10001412, Testing Reinforcer Pathology: Mechanisms and Interventions to Change Alcohol Valuation (5R01AA027381-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10001412. Licensed CC0.

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