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REVIEW article

Front. Psychol.
Sec. Addictive Behaviors
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1416222

The transition to compulsion in addiction：insights from personality traits, social factors, and neurobiology Authors

Provisionally accepted
Chunyan Hu Chunyan Hu *Haodong Su Haodong Su Tongtong Ye Tongtong Ye Songyan Cao Songyan Cao
  • Anhui Science and Technology University, Chuzhou, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Compulsion stands as a central symptom of drug addiction; however, only a small fraction of individuals who use drugs exhibit compulsive characteristics. Differences observed in Sign-trackers (ST) and Goal-trackers (GT) during Pavlovian conditioning may shed light on individual variances in drug addiction. Here, we focus on the behavioral attributes, formation processes, and neural mechanisms underlying ST and how they drive addiction towards compulsivity in humans. We will explore addiction from three interconnected levels: individual personality traits, social factors, and neurobiology. Furthermore, we distinguish between the processes of sensitization and habituation within ST. These nuanced distinctions across various aspects of addiction will contribute to our understanding of the addiction development process and the formulation of targeted preventive strategies.

    Keywords: Sign-tracker, Goal-tracker, drug addiction, individual differences, Compulsive characteristics

    Received: 12 Apr 2024; Accepted: 26 Aug 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Hu, Su, Ye and Cao. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Chunyan Hu, Anhui Science and Technology University, Chuzhou, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.