Deck 6: Tolerance, Sensitization, Dependence, and Addiction

Question 1

Under which conditions should one expect to find evidence for state dependent forgetting?

A)material learned while drugged, material tested while drugged
B)material learned while drugged, material tested when no drug taken
C)material learned when no drug taken, material tested when no drug taken
D)all of the above

Answer 1

B

Question 2

Distinguish between "context-specific" tolerance and "pharmacodynamic" tolerance.

Answer 2

Context-specific tolerance refers to a decrease in response to a drug primarily resulting from learning processes, in which the contextual stimuli become CSs for compensatory CRs that reduce the apparent drug-induced reactions (UCRs), or the organism learns instrumental compensatory responses to behaviorally disruptive effects of the drug, or simple habituation occurs to the drug stimuli.If the contextual stimuli are changed or the task contingencies change, the tolerance may be reduced or eliminated.Pharmacodynamic tolerance refers to changes in cellular membranes, receptors, or neurotransmitter levels reflecting physiological homeostatic processes.These processes are activated when the concentration of the drug is high and the actions are prolonged and are generally independent of the context in which the drug is taken.

Question 3

How are the processes of "enabling" and "denial" factors in drug dependency?
e.g., loaning the addict money, covering up their mistakes, making excuses for them.This decreases the recognition that there is a problem and the motivation to do something about it, and also facilitates the process of denial.Denial refers to the inability of addicts to consciously acknowledge that their drug-taking behaviors are causing problems for themselves and others or that they have lost control over their drug-taking.Without recognizing that there is a problem, there is little likelihood that treatment will be sought out and if forced into treatment, little likelihood that the treatment will have any lasting effects on the addict.
Multiple choice questions.

Answer 3

Enabling occurs when friends, family members, or acquaintances engage in behaviors that reduce the negative consequences of the addict's drug-associated behaviors on the addict, e.g., loaning the addict money, covering up their mistakes, making excuses for them.This decreases the recognition that there is a problem and the motivation to do something about it, and also facilitates the process of denial.Denial refers to the inability of addicts to consciously acknowledge that their drug-taking behaviors are causing problems for themselves and others or that they have lost control over their drug-taking.Without recognizing that there is a problem, there is little likelihood that treatment will be sought out and if forced into treatment, little likelihood that the treatment will have any lasting effects on the addict.
Multiple choice questions.

Question 4

Greatly increased activation of postsynaptic receptors with drugs generally results in the receptors

A)becoming more sensitive
B)becoming less sensitive
C)showing little increase or decrease in sensitivity
D)becoming more active

Question 5

Are these observations more compatible with a pharmacodynamic or a context-specific mechanism for tolerance development? Explain your reasoning.

Question 6

Do these observations tell us anything regarding the question of whether GR1944 is capable of inducing physical dependence? Explain your reasoning.

Question 7

Which mechanism was not cited by the textbook as a factor in tolerance?

A)depletion of neurotransmitters
B)prevention of drug getting through the blood brain barrier
C)increase in drug metabolizing enzymes
D)changes in neurotransmitter receptor sensitivity

Question 8

Two groups of rats have a small pellet implanted under the skin.In Group A rats the pellet contains morphine, which is slowly absorbed over a 72 hour period.In Group B rats the pellet contains an inert substance.The rats are kept in their home cages for the three days after the pellet implantation.Both groups are then tested for analgesia by being injected intraperitoneally with a small dose of morphine.This test consists of the rats being placed on a hot surface and they are timed to see how long it takes them to lick their paws.(It is assumed that the longer it takes the rats to lick their paws, the more the analgesia.) Group A rats display much less of an analgesic response than Group B rats.Is this tolerance phenomenon more compatible with a pharmacodynamic or a context specific mechanism for tolerance development? Explain your reasoning.
e.g., the development of a compensatory CR to the contextual/conditioned stimuli (CS) or an instrumental compensatory behavior.On the other hand, three days of chronic exposure to the morphine should be sufficient to induce some pharmacodynamic neuroadaptations in the Group A rats.

Question 9

John Key has been injecting the drug Sopor to get "high" four to six times daily for a month.In addition to the euphoria experienced, the drug induces low blood pressure, low heart rate
e.g., a few days.
e.g., dysphoria, high blood pressure, tachycardia, pupillary dilation, and diarrhea.Since it was necessary for John to take the drug this often to get high, it indicates that the drug was relatively shortacting; thus, withdrawal would likely to be relatively intense but short-lasting,

Question 10

What is a pharmacological reason for receptor "down-regulation"?

Question 11

What are the distinctions between "drug abuse" and "drug dependence"?
e.g., social, economic, health, for the individual or society.Drug dependence includes this feature; in addition, in the absence of the drug, the drug dependent person experiences unpleasant and uncontrollable mood states that is accompanied with the compulsive use of drugs.Typically tolerance is evidenced and physiological withdrawal may be evidenced if the drug is not taken.

Question 12

A researcher is investigating some of the behavioral properties of a new drug called "GR1944" (a hypothetical drug).She trains two groups of rats on tasks in which bar pressing is occasionally reinforced with food.For GROUP DRLR rats the longer the interval between bar presses the greater the likelihood that a bar press will be rewarded, so GROUP DRLR rats generally press the bar fairly infrequently.For GROUP DRHR rats the shorter the interval between bar presses the greater the likelihood that a bar press will be rewarded, so GROUP DRHR rats press the bar fairly rapidly.After the two groups are trained over several daily sessions to the point that their responding is at stable levels, the researcher splits the two groups into two subgroups.For five successive daily test sessions, she injects GROUP DRLR-1 and GROUP DRHR-1 rats with 100 mg of GR1944 30 minutes prior to each session, and for five successive daily test sessions, she injects GROUP DRLR-2 and GROUP DRHR-2 rats with saline 30 minutes prior to each session.The researcher measures the rate of bar pressing for each group over the five test sessions.

Question 13

Most of the drugs used to treat major mental and emotional disorders, such as antipsychotics, antidepressants and lithium, generally produce

A)strong physiological dependence
B)both psychological and physiological dependence
C)moderate psychological dependence
D)none of the above

Question 14

With the exception of nicotine, the first illegal drug for high school students presently in the U.S.is almost always _______(1)____________.If the user moves on to other drugs, the second illegal drug(s) generally is/are ______(2)__________.

A)(1) marijuana; (2) alcohol
B)(1) alcohol; (2) stimulants, depressants, or tranquilizers
C)(1) alcohol; (2) marijuana
D)(1) marijuana; (2) stimulants

Question 15

Drugs that commonly induce both physical and psychological dependence are

A)antipsychotics
B)LSD and mescaline
C)sedative-hypnotics
D)narcotic antagonists

Question 16

What are two actions induced by psychotropic drugs that may lead to receptor "up-regulation"?
e.g., a drug antagonist may bind to them and prevent neurotransmitter (NT) activation or the drug may increase the levels of the NTs for those receptors by reducing the NT reuptake, by enhancing NT release, by reducing NT metabolic degradation, by activating autoreceptors (which reduces NT release or synthesis), by decreasing the firing of neurons that release the NT, etc.

Question 17

The hypothesis that some drug tolerance is the result of learning to compensate for the effects of drugs would predict that

A)the rate of tolerance development is a function of the difficulty of the task performed while under the influence of the drug
B)drug-induced decrements in performance will not show tolerance
C)drug-induced enhancements of performance should show tolerance
D)none of the above

Question 18

The sight of a syringe has been noted to produce in a heroin addict a sudden desire for a "fix" and he begins twitching.Such reactions were not present until the syringe was seen.We can say that the syringe has become

A)a conditioned stimulus
B)an unconditioned stimulus
C)a conditioned response
D)an unconditioned response

Question 19

The terms "tachyphylaxis" or "acute tolerance" refers to

A)a very rapidly developing tolerance to a drug's effects
B)a very slowly developing tolerance
C)tolerance which alters the person's reactions to other drugs
D)long-term tolerance

Question 20

What is the relationship between tolerance and receptor "desensitization"?

Question 21

Which type of context-specific process that results in drug tolerance does not depend on the development of compensatory responses for tolerance to occur?

A)instrumental conditioning
B)Pavlovian conditioning
C)habituation
D)metabolic drug inactivation

Question 22

If two drugs exert the same pharmacodynamic actions but differ in terms of their pharmacokinetic properties, which of the drugs is likely to produce the most intense abstinence symptoms after chronic use? The drug with the

A)shortest duration of action
B)longest duration of action
C)slowest passage through the blood brain barrier
D)longest times between drug exposures

Question 23

Which of the following tolerance mechanisms is most influenced by the environment in which a drug is given?

A)context-specific tolerance
B)pharmacodynamic tolerance
C)genetic tolerance
D)metabolic tolerance

Question 24

Depending upon how frequently they are activated, neurotransmitter receptors generally have a "lifetime," i.e., the time between their synthesis, degradation, and replacement, somewhere around

A)minutes
B)hours
C)weeks
D)months

Question 25

When a person first begins smoking cigarettes, he often experiences numerous physiological reactions to the ingredients of the smoke.After numerous smoking experiences, the person notices that he has a craving to smoke a cigarette every time he sees one.The physiological reactions to the ingredients of the cigarette smoke may be termed a(n)

A)unconditioned stimulus
B)conditioned stimulus
C)unconditioned response
D)conditioned response

Question 26

Drug dependence is distinguishable from drug abuse because drug dependence is more likely to involve a person's

A)experiencing uncontrollable and unpleasant mood states that motivate compulsive drug-taking behavior
B)frequent use of drugs
C)use of drugs that results in adverse consequences
D)use of illicit drugs

Question 27

When the actions of people who care about a drug dependent person allow the person to escape the harmful consequences of drug use, it is called

A)displacement
B)denial
C)enabling
D)rationalization

Question 28

What technique is most commonly used with nonhumans to determine whether or not a drug has dependence liability?

A)determine if the drug disrupts instrumental behavior
B)determine if they will self-administer the drug
C)determine if the drug has a low therapeutic index
D)determine if tolerance occurs to the drug with repeated exposures

Question 29

When monkeys are hooked up to an apparatus so that a small injection of a drug directly into the bloodstream occurs when the animals perform same response, which of the following drugs are they likely to self-administer?

A)cocaine
B)amphetamine
C)morphine
D)all of these

Question 30

Sally was so nervous about learning to drive that she took three Valium every time she took a driving lesson.After she learned to drive well under these conditions, she was no longer nervous about driving, but she still found that she had a great deal of trouble remembering what to do when driving without taking her Valium.Most likely this was due to

A)traumatic retrograde amnesia
B)state dependent learning
C)proactive interference
D)short term storage deficits

Question 31

The hypothesis that drug tolerance is due to the development of conditioned compensatory responses to a drug's effects would predict that, after complete tolerance has developed in one environmental context, the drug's effects would again be evidenced if the

A)drug was administered in an entirely different context
B)dose of the drug was reduced
C)the person were not exposed to the drug for several days
D)all of the above

Question 32

After being a heavy smoker for several years, you quit and don't have a cigarette for several months.While you hadn't cared for cigarettes all that much before you had started smoking, you now find yourself wanting a cigarette in certain situations.We can say that your drug craving is

A)a primary drive
B)an acquired (conditioned) drive
C)a social motive
D)due to physiological withdrawal

Question 33

Secondary psychological dependence is most likely to occur

A)after a drug user experiences abstinence symptoms following drug use
B)after drug tolerance develops
C)after the drug user experiences the euphoric properties of a drug
D)prior to developing physical dependence to a drug

Question 34

Physical dependence associated with down-regulation of receptors is most likely to occur with drugs that

A)deplete neurotransmitters
B)reduce receptor activation
C)increase receptor activation
D)enhance hepatic enzyme production

Question 35

Which type of tolerance is most directly dependent on factors such as frequency and amount of drug administered to the organism and is independent of the drug administration context?

A)associative tolerance
B)behavioral tolerance
C)pharmacodynamic tolerance
D)genetic tolerance

Question 36

The waning (decrease in probability and magnitude) of a response to an initially novel stimulus after the person is exposed to the same stimulus on several occasions is termed

A)extinction
B)habituation
C)generalization
D)discrimination

Question 37

Responses that do NOT fully transfer from one set of drug conditions to another are termed

A)conditioned responses
B)state-dependent responses
C)task specific responses
D)unconditioned responses

Question 38

If given an opportunity to release cocaine or morphine into its bloodstream,

A)priming
B)sensitization
C)augmentation
D)tolerance
E)g., by pressing a lever that delivers the drug intravenously, a nonhuman animal will typically do so, and when the drug is no longer delivered after many responses by the animal, it will stop lever pressing.However, if the animal is exposed to a stressor or sees or hears a cue that was originally presented when the drug was delivered, it will typically start lever pressing again.This phenomenon is referred to as

Question 39

When individuals who consume alcohol regularly exhibit decreased sensitivity to other drugs with sedative-hypnotic properties,

A)tachyphylaxis
B)acute tolerance
C)sensitization
D)cross-tolerance
E)g., barbiturates, it is an indication of

Question 40

When John Key first began to inject heroin, he experienced numerous physiological and emotional reactions to the drug.After several injections, John Key noticed that he has a craving to "shoot up" every time he sees a syringe.This craving is called a(n)

A)unconditioned stimulus
B)conditioned stimulus
C)unconditioned response
D)conditioned response

Question 41

Most research indicates that the brain system that underlies the primary reward properties of drugs of abuse and natural reinforcers like food and sex is the

A)reticular activating system
B)basal ganglia
C)hippocampus
D)mesolimbic dopamine system

Question 42

__________________ of receptors would most likely occur if the receptors were chronically exposed to antagonists at those types of receptors.

A)Up-regulation
B)Down-regulation
C)Desensitization
D)Ionization

Question 43

Which brain system has research indicated to be most directly related to the abuse properties of virtually all recreational and abuse-prone drugs?

A)temporal cholinergic system
B)mesolimbic dopamine system
C)reticular serotonin system
D)basal ganglia

Question 44

Which single factor accounts for most of the variation in the liability to substance abuse?

A)environment shared with parents
B)environment shared with peers
C)genetic makeup
D)socioeconomic level

Question 45

Which type of tolerance is directly dependent on factors such as frequency and amount of drug administered to the organism and is independent of the drug administration context?

A)pharmacokinetic tolerance
B)pharmacodynamic tolerance
C)both of these
D)neither of these

Question 46

Which of the following defense mechanisms prevents drug users from consciously recognizing that they are drug dependent?

A)enabling
B)denial
C)projection
D)regression

Question 47

Cue exposure therapy is designed to

A)reduce the primary reinforcing effects of drugs of abuse
B)reduce the secondary reinforcing effects of drugs of abuse
C)induce state dependent dissociation
D)reduce conditioned cravings

Question 48

Two individuals administered the same dose of a psychotropic drug for the very first time may exhibit very different reactions to the drug.This is most likely due to

A)context-specific tolerance
B)pharmacodynamic tolerance
C)dispositional or genetic tolerance
D)conventional tolerance Chapter 6.Answers to multiple choice questions and

Question 49

Which of the following statements is most valid?

A)drug tolerance always precedes physical dependence to the drug
B)the development of drug tolerance always indicates physical dependence
C)physical dependence may occur without any observable drug tolerance
D)both a and b above

Question 50

Empirical evidence has shown that relapse is not likely to occur with which type of treatment for drug dependence?

A)drug substitution
B)extinction of conditioned responses
C)group therapy
D)none of the above; there is no empirical evidence that any treatment prevents relapse

Question 51

Which neurotransmitters have been most directly linked to the primary reward and dependence inducing properties of drugs?

A)serotonin and adrenaline
B)GABA and acetylcholine
C)dopamine and glutamate
D)glycine and neuropeptide Y

Question 52

Chronic exposure of postsynaptic receptors to agonists commonly produce _________________ of the receptors.

A)desensitization
B)down-regulation
C)up-regulation
D)either a or b