DISSOCIATION BETWEEN SUBJECTIVE AND BEHAVIORAL-RESPONSES AFTER COCAINE STIMULI PRESENTATIONS

This study was designed to explore the relationship between craving an d cocaine-seeking behavior with the use of both subjective and behavio ral measures. Five males and five females who have used crack at least two times a week for 6 months, and who reported using 0.5 g of crack within 24 h on at least one occasion, participated in an inpatient stu dy. Subjects underwent a total of four experimental sessions, during w hich they were exposed to either neutral (Neutral Stimuli Condition) o r cocaine-related (Cocaine Stimuli Condition) external and internal st imuli. Subjects were exposed to each stimuli condition twice, on separ ate days, in randomized order. External stimuli comprised neutral or c ocaine-related videotapes and paraphernalia, and the internal stimulus was either a 5-mg ('placebo') or 0.4 mg/kg delivery of cocaine. At ba seline and after each stimulus exposure, subjects completed a composit e cocaine craving questionnaire. Subjects next worked on concurrently- available fixed-ratio tasks either for tokens that could be exchanged for money ($2) or for tokens that were exchangeable for deliveries of cocaine (0.4 mg/kg). The results show that subjects reported significa ntly greater cocaine craving after exposure to cocaine-related vs. neu tral stimuli, indicating that craving for cocaine can be successfully modeled in a laboratory setting. However, this change in subjective re sponse did not predict drug-seeking behavior. The number of cocaine to kens earned following exposure to the cocaine-related vs neutral stimu li was similar. These results suggest that in a laboratory setting, cr aving may be unrelated to cocaine-seeking behavior in non-treatment-se eking cocaine users. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd.