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. 2017 Feb;101(2):185-187.
doi: 10.1002/cpt.443. Epub 2016 Sep 19.

Reinforcer Pathology: The Behavioral Economics of Abuse Liability Testing

W K Bickel  1 , S E Snider  1 , A J Quisenberry  1 , J S Stein  1
Affiliations

Reinforcer Pathology: The Behavioral Economics of Abuse Liability Testing

W K Bickel et al. Clin Pharmacol Ther. 2017 Feb.

Abstract

Understanding the abuse liability of novel drugs is critical to understanding the risk these new compounds pose to society. Behavioral economics, the integration of psychology and economics, can be used to predict abuse liability of novel substances. Here, we describe the behavioral economic concept of reinforcer pathology and how it may predict the use of novel drugs in existing drug-users and initiation of use in the drug-naive.

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Figures

Figure 1:
Figure 1:
Measuring valuation and preference for the immediate using demand and delay discounting. (a) depicts valuation of alcoholic beverages over increasing prices in heavy and light drinkers. (b) represents the hyperbolic decrease in valuation of delayed money in heroin-dependent participants and controls. Data are replotted from (3) and (5), respectively.
Figure 2:
Figure 2:
Visual representation of the interaction between reinforcer value and an individual’s preference for the immediate. The top right quadrant, depicted in red, represents the interaction of extreme valuation and excessive immediate preference leading to reinforcer pathology and sensitivity to abuse liability.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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    1. Bickel WK, Koffarnus MN, Moody L, Wilson AG. The behavioral- and neuro-economic process of temporal discounting: A candidate behavioral marker of addiction. Neuropharmacology. Elsevier; 2014. Jan;76 Pt B:518–27. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Madden GJ, Petry NM, Badger GJ, Bickel WK. Impulsive and self-control choices in opioid-dependent patients and non-drug-using control patients: Drug and monetary rewards. Exp Clin Psychopharmacol. American Psychological Association; 1997. Aug;5(3):256. - PubMed

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