ArticleDrug and alcohol dependence2021
Reinforcer pathology in cocaine use disorder: Temporal window determines cocaine valuation.
Article in Drug and alcohol dependence, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Imagining the future can shape the present: A systematic review of the impact of episodic future thinking on substance use outcomes.Psychology of addictive behaviors : journal of the Society of Psychologists in Addictive Behaviors · 2024Pooled it
- Episodic Future Thinking as an Intervention for Alcohol Use Disorder: Effects on Delay Discounting and Real-World Alcohol Consumption.Research square · 2026Article
- Episodic future thinking modulates delay discounting in individuals with problematic substance use: a narrative review.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Review
- Differential discounting of past and future gains and losses in individuals in recovery from substance use disorder.Experimental and clinical psychopharmacology · 2025Article
- The phenotype of recovery XII: A reinforcer pathology perspective on associations between delay discounting and pain catastrophizing in substance use disorder recovery.Journal of substance use and addiction treatment · 2025Article
- The Phenotype of Recovery X: Associations between delay discounting, regulatory flexibility, and remission from substance use disorder.Journal of substance use and addiction treatment · 2023Article
- Utility of the 5-trial adjusting delay task in screening for high delay discounting rates: A cohort study of individuals reporting harmful alcohol and tobacco use.Experimental and clinical psychopharmacology · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
aimsThe Experimental Medicine Approach offers a unique perspective to determine clinical behavior change by engaging a target underlying the cause of a disorder. The present work engaged a novel target of addiction, Reinforcer Pathology, in two studies to test changes in behavior among individuals with cocaine use disorder.
methodsIn Study 1, n = 44 participants engaged the temporal window with episodic future thinking (EFT), a positive prospection exercise. Changes in temporal view and cocaine valuation were tested using delay discounting and behavioral economic demand, respectively. Additionally, a computational model assessed the relative reliance on the near- and far-sighted systems during EFT. In Study 2, n = 71 engaged the temporal window with a negatively-valenced hurricane scenario to test the opposite effects on window length and cocaine valuation.
resultsResults demonstrated systematic and symmetrical engagement of the behavioral target. Study 1 robustly replicated previous work, wherein EFT lengthened the temporal window and decreased cocaine valuation. Moreover, EFT increased the weighting of the modeled far-sighted system, increasing the relative impact of long-term discounting decisions. Study 2 produced opposite outcomes, shortened temporal window and increased cocaine valuation.
conclusionsThis approximately equal and opposite reaction to the manipulations supports reinforcer pathology theory and implicates the temporal window over which rewards are valued as a target to be pushed and pulled to produce clinically meaningful behavior change. Using the Experimental Medicine Approach as a guide, future work should identify new potential interventions to engage reinforcer pathology and use the clinically relevant outcomes as a litmus test for mechanism.
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