About this Research Topic
Addiction can be viewed as a compulsive stimulus response induced by addiction-related stimuli. Individuals with addictive problems usually exhibit an increased and recurrent craving for certain stimuli, which makes it difficult for them to suppress behaviors related to the desire for a strong addictive stimulus. Thus, addiction involves the reward-seeking motivation behind goal-directed behavior and the changes in cognitive control processes.
The change of motivation is related to the craving for addictive stimuli and the change of cognitive control is related to the inhibition and control of the craving. Previous studies used questionnaires, behavioral experiments, EEG, and brain imaging to measure the reward function and cognitive control function of individuals with addictive problems. Studies demonstrated that addiction is characterized by an expanding cycle of dysfunction in the brain. The damage usually starts in the evolutionarily more primitive brain areas related with reward processing and then moves to other areas responsible for more complex cognitive functions. In addition to reward function (i.e. anticipatory and consummatory phases of reward processing), individuals with addictive problems experience severe disruption of executive function (impulse inhibition, decision making, delayed gratification). Therefore, it is important to understand how reward processing interacts with the cognitive control processes of addiction.
This Research Topic aims to investigate the cognitive control and reward processing as well as their interactions in addiction. All forms of substance addiction and behavior addiction are included in this topic. We welcome submissions related but not limited to the following sub-themes:
- Do the individuals with addictive disorders have dysfunction in inhibition control, or reward processing, or both?
- How does the cognitive control interact with the reward seeking to predict addictive behavior?
- What are the common and specific neural mechanisms involved in inhibitory control or reward processing in different types of people with addictive behavior?
- Whether cognitive control or reward processing in people with addictive disorders can be further decomposed into distinct substages, each with different functional significance?
Original research, reviews, and meta-analyses investigating the mechanism of addictive behaviors, via approaches such as animal and human behavior experiments, electroencephalography, brain imaging, and genetics are highly encouraged.
The change of motivation is related to the craving for addictive stimuli and the change of cognitive control is related to the inhibition and control of the craving. Previous studies used questionnaires, behavioral experiments, EEG, and brain imaging to measure the reward function and cognitive control function of individuals with addictive problems. Studies demonstrated that addiction is characterized by an expanding cycle of dysfunction in the brain. The damage usually starts in the evolutionarily more primitive brain areas related with reward processing and then moves to other areas responsible for more complex cognitive functions. In addition to reward function (i.e. anticipatory and consummatory phases of reward processing), individuals with addictive problems experience severe disruption of executive function (impulse inhibition, decision making, delayed gratification). Therefore, it is important to understand how reward processing interacts with the cognitive control processes of addiction.
This Research Topic aims to investigate the cognitive control and reward processing as well as their interactions in addiction. All forms of substance addiction and behavior addiction are included in this topic. We welcome submissions related but not limited to the following sub-themes:
- Do the individuals with addictive disorders have dysfunction in inhibition control, or reward processing, or both?
- How does the cognitive control interact with the reward seeking to predict addictive behavior?
- What are the common and specific neural mechanisms involved in inhibitory control or reward processing in different types of people with addictive behavior?
- Whether cognitive control or reward processing in people with addictive disorders can be further decomposed into distinct substages, each with different functional significance?
Original research, reviews, and meta-analyses investigating the mechanism of addictive behaviors, via approaches such as animal and human behavior experiments, electroencephalography, brain imaging, and genetics are highly encouraged.
Keywords: Cognitive Control, Reward Processing, Addiction, Severity, Substages
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
