Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41548027›Full record

ArticleNeuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology2026

Incentive salience, not psychomotor sensitization or tolerance, drives escalation of cocaine self-administration in heterogeneous stock rats.

Jarryd Ramborger, Joseph Mosquera, Molly Brennan, Benjamin Sichel, Dyar Othman, Sonja Plasil, Elizabeth Sneddon, Selene Zahedi, Alex Morgan, Supakorn Chonwattanagul and 6 more

Abstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

3 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

16 authors.

Jarryd RamborgerDepartment of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego, CA, USA.
Joseph MosqueraDepartment of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego, CA, USA.
Molly BrennanDepartment of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego, CA, USA.
Benjamin SichelDepartment of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego, CA, USA.
Dyar OthmanDepartment of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego, CA, USA.
Sonja PlasilDepartment of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego, CA, USA.
Elizabeth SneddonDepartment of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego, CA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4004-9434
Selene ZahediDepartment of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego, CA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0009-0008-8151-4850
Alex MorganDepartment of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego, CA, USA.
Supakorn ChonwattanagulDepartment of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego, CA, USA.
Kathleen BaiDepartment of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego, CA, USA.
Lindsey ChinaDepartment of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego, CA, USA.
Tu LaDepartment of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego, CA, USA.
Lisa MaturinDepartment of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego, CA, USA.
Lieselot L G CarretteDepartment of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego, CA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5217-2774
Olivier GeorgeDepartment of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego, CA, USA. olgeorge@health.ucsd.edu.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3700-5003

Funding

Identification of Genetic Variants that Contribute to Compulsive Cocaine Intakein RatsU01DA043799 · NIDA · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO · PI Olivier George, Abraham A Palmer · 2017 to 2026
$7.9M
Use of Next-Gen Sequencing to Identify Genetic Variants that Influence compulsiveOxycodone Intake in Outbred RatsU01DA044451 · NIDA · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO · PI Olivier George, Abraham A Palmer · 2018 to 2026
$7.3M
NIDA NIH HHS U01 DA043799NIDA NIH HHS U01 DA044451
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Sensitization and tolerance are two phenomena often studied independently despite overlapping neurobiological substrates. Each has extensive research showing their influence on the development and maintenance of addiction, but the degree to which they drive escalation in cocaine self-administration is poorly understood. Using self-administration, intravenous noncontingent infusions, and pose-estimation machine vision, we found that incentive salience, not psychomotor sensitization or tolerance, drove the escalation of cocaine self-administration in heterogenous stock rats. Individual differences in psychomotor sensitization or tolerance were found to have no effect on cocaine intake. Incentive salience as measured by locomotion and active lever entrances per meter traveled occurring before the self-administration session began (pre-lever activity measures) during Short Access (2 h) was found to predict intake during Long Access (6 h). Both pre-lever locomotion and active lever entrances per meter were found to increase during Long Access and after two-to-three days of abstinence. Critically, rats with low pre-lever activity during Short Access escalated both their intake and pre-lever measures by the end of Long Access to levels comparable with high pre-lever activity rats who maintained their elevated responding. These findings support the notion that incentive salience during Short Access is a catalyst to escalated use and an early marker of addiction vulnerability. Moreover, they suggest that individuals initially resistant to incentive salience can, with sufficient exposure, become sensitized and escalate cocaine use to the same level as more susceptible individuals. Analysis of pre-lever activity offers a novel longitudinal behavioral marker to predict vulnerability and provides a framework for understanding individual trajectories of addiction.

Indexed as

CocaineCocaine-Related DisordersDopamine Uptake InhibitorsDrug ToleranceMotivationPsychomotor PerformanceAnimalsConditioning, OperantLocomotionMaleMotor ActivityRatsSelf AdministrationCocaineDopamine Uptake Inhibitors

Identifiers

PMID41548027
PMCPMC13098298

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.