Early-life stress is associated with a preponderance of habitual responding in a novel instrumental avoidance learning paradigm

• Published in: Neurobiology of learning and memory 2020-11, Vol.175, p.107316-107316, Article 107316
• Main Authors: Gordon, Alexander L., Patterson, Tara K., Knowlton, Barbara J.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Adverse Childhood Experiences - psychology; Anxiety - psychology; Avoidance; Avoidance Learning; Child Abuse - psychology; Child Abuse, Sexual - psychology; Conditioning, Operant; Depression - psychology; Early-life stress; Emotional Abuse - psychology; Female; Habit; Habits; Humans; Instrumental learning; Male; Personality; Physical Abuse - psychology; Social Class; Socio-economic status; Young Adult
• ISSN: 1074-7427; 1095-9564
• DOI: 10.1016/j.nlm.2020.107316

•Early-life stress was associated with an increased rate of making habitual responses.•Experiencing physical neglect was closely associated with habitual responding.•This effect persisted when controlling for effects of socioeconomic status. There is substantial evidence linking early-life stress (ELS) to negative health outcomes in adulthood, including addiction. However, the neurocognitive and behavioral mechanisms through which ELS increases these risks remain unclear. To address this gap in knowledge, we developed a novel instrumental learning paradigm to explore the effects of ELS on the balance of habitual versus goal-directed learning. Habits efficiently reproduce repetitive behaviors but are inflexible whenreward contingencies related to those behaviors change. Persisting in performing a response after its outcome has been devalued is the hallmark of habitual behavior in instrumental learning. Participants with a history of higher ELS were significantly more likely to make habitual responses in this instrumental avoidance learning paradigm than individuals with a history of lower ELS. Logistic regression analysis showed that ELS is significantly related to habitual responding over and above the effects of retrospective socioeconomic status, trait and state anxiety, depression and recent levels of stress. Analysis of the differential impacts of the type of ELS suggested that these effects are largely driven by experiences of physical neglect.