BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:talks.ox.ac.uk
BEGIN:VEVENT
SUMMARY:BEACON Seminar: Following the Cues - How do Sound and Light Cues i
 mpact risky Decision Making? - Professor Catharine Winstanley (The Univers
 ity of British Columbia)
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20230502T120000
DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20230502T130000
UID:https://talks.ox.ac.uk/talks/id/ce98120f-8668-43f6-8161-e1ff983d79b3/
DESCRIPTION:Computer games and electronic gambling products frequently sig
 nal reward delivery with accompanying sound and light cues. While this sen
 sory stimulation may seem superficially harmless\, decades of research int
 o the neurobiological processes underlying chemical dependency suggests th
 at cue-reactivity enhances vulnerability to drug addiction. Furthermore\, 
 repeated exposure to conditioned stimuli which predict reward delivery wit
 h maximal uncertainty\, or responding on variable as opposed to fixed rati
 o schedules of reinforcement\, can by themselves sensitise rats to the loc
 omotor and reinforcing properties of psychostimulant drugs. We have shown 
 that adding reward-concurrent cues to laboratory-based gambling paradigms 
 increases risky decision making in both rats and humans\, and alters the r
 ecruitment of the dopamine system in the decision making process. Rats tha
 t perform the cued rat gambling task daily also self-administer more cocai
 ne\, and subsequently make even more risky choices on the task. Psychophar
 macology studies in rats indicate that serotonergic\, noradrenergic\, and 
 cholinergic modulation of choice preference changes when such cues are pre
 sent. Behavioural experiments reveal that cues have to be reliably\, but n
 ot exclusively win-paired in order to exacerbate risky decision-making in 
 rodent models. Contrary to our initial expectations\, computational modeli
 ng analyses of data from over 200 rats show that these cues do not drive r
 isky decision making by enhancing learning from rewards\, but rather preve
 nting sufficient learning from punishments. When given the choice\, most r
 ats prefer to play the cued version of the task\, even though fewer reward
 s are earned\, and the more they select cued trials\, the riskier their de
 cision making becomes. The potential consequences for gambling disorder an
 d addiction vulnerability will be discussed.\nSpeakers:\nProfessor Cathari
 ne Winstanley (The University of British Columbia)
LOCATION:Pharmacology Lecture Theatre\, Department of Pharmacology. For th
 ose without keycard access to Pharmacology\, use the call button at recept
 ion.
TZID:Europe/London
URL:https://talks.ox.ac.uk/talks/id/ce98120f-8668-43f6-8161-e1ff983d79b3/
BEGIN:VALARM
ACTION:display
DESCRIPTION:Talk:BEACON Seminar: Following the Cues - How do Sound and Lig
 ht Cues impact risky Decision Making? - Professor Catharine Winstanley (Th
 e University of British Columbia)
TRIGGER:-PT1H
END:VALARM
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR