[en] Individuals differ in their tendency to assign motivational value to reward-predictive cues, conceptualized as “sign-tracker” (ST) versus “goal-tracker” (GT) behaviors in animal models. STs approach a reward-predictive cue, while GTs go to the location of reward delivery. An intermediate phenotype (INT) is sometimes identified. These profiles have been linked to addiction vulnerability, because of a higher propensity to sign-track in drug-addicted rats. However, efforts to translate this model to humans have yielded inconsistent findings, partly due to variability in experimental paradigms. The present observational study hypothesized that distinct profiles based on gaze behavior could be identified in humans and that these profiles would differ on addiction-related variables, such as alcohol consumption and impulsivity. One hundred six adults completed three computerized tasks: a simple reward task, a Pavlovian conditioned approach (PCA) task, with gaze behavior measured via eye-tracking, and a dot-probe task. Participants were categorized as STs, GTs, or INTs with a latent profile analysis (LPA). Alcohol consumption and personality traits were assessed via questionnaires. The three profiles significantly differed in alcohol consumption level, with a small-to-medium effect size observed (χ² = 8.10, p = 0.01, 2 = 0.059). STs displayed higher levels of alcohol consumption than GTs (p = 0.03). No significant differences emerged for other alcohol-related or personality variables. These findings demonstrate the feasibility of identifying ST/GT profiles (or analogues) in humans using a simple PCA task. The observed link between sign-tracking and alcohol consumption supports the notion that sign-tracking may serve as a vulnerability marker of alcohol use.
Research Center/Unit :
PsyNCog - Psychologie et Neuroscience Cognitives - ULiège
