Pavlovian conditioned approach, extinction, and spontaneous recovery to an audiovisual cue paired with an intravenous heroin infusion.

Abstract

Novel stimuli paired with exposure to addictive drugs can elicit approach through Pavlovian learning. While such approach behavior, or sign tracking, has been documented for cocaine and alcohol, it has not been shown to occur with opiate drugs like heroin. Most Pavlovian conditioned approach paradigms use an operandum as the sign, so that sign tracking can be easily automated.