# Neurobehavioral Mechanisms of Choices to Smoke Cannabis in Cannabis Use Disorder

> **NIH NIH R01** · NEW YORK STATE PSYCHIATRIC INSTITUTE DBA RESEARCH FOUNDATION FOR MENTAL HYGIENE, INC · 2021 · $586,571

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
 A hallmark symptom of Substance Use Disorders (SUDs) is persistent choice for drugs at the expense of
other, more adaptive rewards, yet little is known about the neurobehavioral factors guiding this key behavioral
pathology. Building on our preliminary studies, this application seeks to bridge the gap between decision
science and addiction neuroscience with the overall aim of identifying how choices for drugs and other rewards
in the `addicted' brain differ from those made by drug users who are more readily able to control their use.
Given the ever increasing prevalence of cannabis use, we will focus on cannabis smokers (4x/month),
recruiting large samples of individuals with (n=60) and without (n=60) Cannabis Use Disorder (CUD).
Participants will undergo a 3-day inpatient protocol comprising fMRI and behavioral choice tasks and
laboratory cannabis self-administration. We will investigate two key processes of decision-making during
choices for cannabis and an alternative reinforcer (opportunities to play a game of chance): 1) neural encoding
of subjective value (SV) signals during choices; and 2) reinforcement learning processes guiding choices. In
the healthy brain, valuation circuitry (e.g. ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex) has reliably been shown to
quantitatively represent the reward values of available options, calculated in a `common currency' during
choice. No research has disambiguated SV encoding during decisions about drugs and other rewards in
human drug users, despite the overvaluation of drugs and undervaluation of alternatives thought to contribute
critically to the development and manifestation of SUDs. Based on preliminary data, we anticipate that
individuals with CUD will show enhanced SV signaling for cannabis and blunted SV signals for the alternative
reward compared to non-CUD participants. Our investigation of reinforcement learning will assess the relative
contribution of model-based and model-free learning systems, thought to underlie more deliberative and more
habitual choice behavior respectively, to decisions about cannabis and the alternative reward. Model-based
learning entails use of a cognitive model of associations between choices and outcomes, and facilitates
deliberative choice. Model-free learning uses only the reward history to guide choices, and is a feature of
habitual decisions. We expect that decisions made for drug reinforcement will recruit more model-free learning
in CUD participants, contributing to persistent maladaptive choices for drugs over other rewards. To assess the
clinical relevance of these decision processes, we will also investigate associations between SV signals,
reinforcement learning, and functional impairment measured by self- and peer-report. Thus, by delineating the
decision processes differentiating more controlled drug use from more entrenched, maladaptive patterns of
use, this project will address a central challenge for addiction neuroscience: understanding...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10167663
- **Project number:** 5R01DA044339-05
- **Recipient organization:** NEW YORK STATE PSYCHIATRIC INSTITUTE DBA RESEARCH FOUNDATION FOR MENTAL HYGIENE, INC
- **Principal Investigator:** Gillinder I. Bedi
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $586,571
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-07-01 → 2024-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10167663

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10167663, Neurobehavioral Mechanisms of Choices to Smoke Cannabis in Cannabis Use Disorder (5R01DA044339-05). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10167663. Licensed CC0.

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