# Between versus Within-Subject Models of the Protective Effect of Substance-Free Reward on Alcohol, Nicotine, and Marijuana Use and Problems

> **NIH NIH R36** · FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $54,000

## Abstract

Abstract
Alcohol and substance use disorders (AUDs and SUDs) are among the leading causes of
preventable mortality and healthcare costs in the United States. Across both preclinical
(nonhuman animal) and human models of addiction, substance-free reward has been reliably
implicated as an influential mechanism of addiction prevention and treatment. Substance-free
reward refers to typically pleasurable, non-drug stimuli and activities (e.g., dating, sports,
entertainment). However, the mechanism by which increases in substance-free rewards
suppress substance misuse is not well understood. It could reflect a substitution, whereby the
time spent engaging in a pleasurable activity prevents simultaneous drug use, or it could reflect
an overall environmental enrichment, which the animal literature has connected to decreased
addictive potential of the drug itself. The current proposal seeks to clarify this mechanism
through two complementary approaches. One is a 21-day (3 times per day) ecological
momentary assessment (EMA) protocol measuring engagement in substance-free pleasurable
activities and alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana-related reward, use, and consequences. The
second is a multi-method lab-experimental protocol that will characterize substance-related
versus substance-free reward both through self-report questionnaires and brain responses to
reward cues as measured via electroencephalogram (EEG). If an individual exhibits a relative
imbalance between neural responses to substances versus natural rewards, they are likely to
be at specific risk for substance misuse. Additionally, brain responses to specific substance-free
rewards should map onto the actual rate of engagement of these activities during the EMA
period. The results of this study have the potential to influence the structure of treatments for
SUDs by informing 1) whether substance-free activity engagement is protective in the aggregate
(e.g., through environmental enrichment) or is protective in a temporal dynamic fashion (e.g., by
replacing substance use with a substance-free pleasurable activity instead), and 2) if neural
measures can be used to predict whether treatment factors, such as relative reward imbalances
between pleasurable activity engagement and substance-related reward, are reflected in day-to-
day decisions regarding substance use.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10057409
- **Project number:** 1R36DA050049-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Keanan J Joyner
- **Activity code:** R36 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $54,000
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2020-08-01 → 2022-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10057409

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10057409, Between versus Within-Subject Models of the Protective Effect of Substance-Free Reward on Alcohol, Nicotine, and Marijuana Use and Problems (1R36DA050049-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10057409. Licensed CC0.

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