The neural basis of drug craving: An incentive-sensitization theory of addiction
This is the original 1993 statement of the incentive-sensitisation theory, and it is organised around three questions. Why do addicted people crave drugs; why does craving persist long after withdrawal has ended; and is wanting a drug the same thing as liking it. The answer proposed is that addictive drugs share the ability to increase dopamine transmission in a particular brain system, that one job of this system is to attach incentive salience to whatever is associated with it, meaning that the thing is not merely noticed but made attractive and wanted, and that in some individuals repeated use permanently sensitises the system, so it responds ever more strongly to the drug and to the cues around it. Because learning directs where that salience lands, the sensitisation attaches to the act of taking the drug and to its surroundings. The decisive claim is the separation: the system that produces wanting can be sensitised independently of any change in the system that produces pleasure, which is why craving can grow while enjoyment declines.
This is the original 1993 statement of the incentive-sensitisation theory, and it is organised around three questions. Why do addicted people crave drugs; why does craving persist long after withdrawal has ended; and is wanting a drug the same thing as liking it. The answer proposed is that addictive drugs share the ability to increase dopamine transmission in a particular brain system, that one job of this system is to attach incentive salience to whatever is associated with it, meaning that the thing is not merely noticed but made attractive and wanted, and that in some individuals repeated use permanently sensitises the system, so it responds ever more strongly to the drug and to the cues around it. Because learning directs where that salience lands, the sensitisation attaches to the act of taking the drug and to its surroundings. The decisive claim is the separation: the system that produces wanting can be sensitised independently of any change in the system that produces pleasure, which is why craving can grow while enjoyment declines.
Written from the abstract, Europe PMC.
What our sources record
Reproduced as it was written when this source was checked, figures and all.
Robinson, T. E. & Berridge, K. C. (1993). "The neural basis of drug craving: An incentive-sensitization theory of addiction." Brain Research Reviews, 18(3), 247-291.
Where we use it
- Wanting Is Not Liking, Why We Engage
Reliability of this reference
The link below was matched against the publisher's record on title, first author and year, and all three agree.
The source
https://doi.org/10.1016/0165-0173(93)90013-p90013-p)
DOI: 10.1016/0165-0173(93)90013-p