Cue reactivity

Cue reactivity is a type of learned response which is observed in individuals with an addiction, and involves significant physiological and psychological reactions to presentations of drug-related stimuli (i.e., drug cues). The central tenet of cue reactivity is that cues previously predicting receipt of drug reward under certain conditions can evoke stimulus-associated responses such as urges to use drugs. In other words, learned cues can signal drug reward, in that cues previously associated with drug use can elicit cue reactivity such as arousal, anticipation, and changes in behavioral motivation.

Responses to a drug cue can be physiological (e.g., sweating, salivation, brain activity), behavioral (e.g., drug seeking), or symbolic expressive (e.g., craving). The clinical utility of cue reactivity is based on the conceptualization that drug cues elicit craving, which is a critical factor in the maintenance and relapse to drug use. Additionally, cue reactivity allows for the development of testable hypotheses grounded in established theories of human behavior. Therefore, researchers have leveraged the cue reactivity paradigm to study addiction, antecedents of relapse, and craving, translate pre-clinical findings to clinical samples, and contribute to the development of new treatment methods. Testing cue reactivity in human samples involves exposing individuals with a substance use disorder to drug-related cues (e.g., cigarettes, alcohol, drug paraphernalia) and drug-neutral cues (e.g., pencils, glasses of water), and then measuring their reactions by assessing changes in self-reported drug craving and physiological responses, such as blood pressure, salivation, and brain activity.