Behavioral and linguistic markers of craving

Craving, a strong desire or urge to use a substance, is a primary trigger for relapse in individuals living with substance use disorder (SUDs). Environmental cues repeatedly paired with substance use can acquire motivational salience, and later exposure to these cues outside of the substance-use context can elicit craving and seeking behaviors. Cue-elicited craving can escalate throughout abstinence and maintain for prolonged periods, a phenomenon known as the incubation of craving. While the striatum has been implicated in forming cue-reward associations, striatal-based reward-learning theories suggest such associations should weaken without reinforcement. In contrast, hippocampal-dependent episodic memories are known to strengthen over time through replay and consolidation, offering a potential mechanism for sustaining substance-related memories and craving. However, the role of episodic memory in craving has been largely underexplored. Here, we investigate that role across food and alcohol craving. First, we show that craving for a food item predicts individuals’ willingness to perform instrumental behaviors for the opportunity to recall a memory about it. Then, using natural language processing techniques, we demonstrate a positive relationship between craving, abstinence length, and the number of episodic details in both food-related and sobriety-related narratives. These findings highlight the potential contribution of episodic memory to sustained craving over time.

Grantor dc:publisher

Temple University. Libraries

Year dc:date.issued

2025

Author dc:creator

• Ruiz, Nicholas

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Murty, Vishnu P.

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Chein, Jason M.
• Wimmer, Mathieu
• Helion, Chelsea
• Briand, Lisa A.
• Goldfarb, Elizabeth

• Cognitive psychology
• Neurosciences
• Consolidation
• Craving
• Episodic memory
• Hippocampus
• Incubation
• Striatum
• Psychology

Statement dc:rights

• IN COPYRIGHT- This Rights Statement can be used for an Item that is in copyright. Using this statement implies that the organization making this Item available has determined that the Item is in copyright and either is the rights-holder, has obtained permission from the rights-holder(s) to make their Work(s) available, or makes the Item available under an exception or limitation to copyright (including Fair Use) that entitles it to make the Item available.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Repository record dc:identifier.uri

https://scholarshare.temple.edu/handle/20.500.12613/11539

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholarshare.temple.edu:20.500.12613/11539