# Establishing a link between habits and punishment resistance

> **NIH NIH R01** · TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY · 2021 · $341,201

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
 The defining characteristic of addiction is an uncontrollable urge to use drugs despite negative conse-
quences (i.e., punishment). Addicted individuals find it difficult to curb drug-seeking behaviors even when they
lead to harmful consequences, indicating that these behaviors are resistant to punishment. A similar type of
punishment resistance has been observed in recent animal models of addiction, with a subset of rats continuing
to self-administer cocaine despite receiving footshock. A prevailing view in the field is that punishment resistance
arises from failure to exert goal-directed control over habits. However, a major gap in this account is that there
is a lack of empirical evidence to support it. While goal-directed and habitual behaviors are known to be mediated
by separate neural systems in dorsomedial striatum and dorsolateral striatum, respectively, much less is known
about how punishment affects well-established behavior guided by these systems. Without a clear understanding
of what drives punishment resistance in addiction, development of successful treatment strategies will continue
to be hindered. The overall objective of this project is to establish a link between habitual responding and pun-
ishment resistance in a rat self-administration model. The central hypothesis is that punishment resistance stems
from a failure to switch from habitual responding to goal-directed control, due to reduced recruitment of cortical
and thalamic inputs to dorsomedial striatum. The specific aims of this project are to: determine the role of habitual
responding in punishment resistance, identify striatal components involved in punishment resistance and sensi-
tivity, and identify inputs to striatum that mediate the response to punishment. These aims will be investigated
using a systems-level approach that involves translationally-relevant animal models of addiction, optogenetic
tools, and a novel outcome devaluation procedure that was developed to assess habitual responding for cocaine.
These studies will provide critical new evidence for the theoretical framework commonly used by the field, and
provide key insights into the behavioral processes and neurobiological mechanisms of compulsive drug use
despite negative consequences.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10075247
- **Project number:** 5R01DA046457-03
- **Recipient organization:** TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** RACHEL J SMITH
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $341,201
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-02-15 → 2023-12-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10075247

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10075247, Establishing a link between habits and punishment resistance (5R01DA046457-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10075247. Licensed CC0.

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