Replicability in measures of attentional set-shifting task performance predicting chronic heavy drinking in rhesus monkeys

• Published in: Alcohol (Fayetteville, N.Y.) Vol. 96; pp. 93 - 98
• Main Authors: Grant, K.A., Newman, N., Gonzales, S., Shnitko, T.A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 01-11-2021; Elsevier Limited
• Subjects: Alcohol; Alcohol Drinking; Alcohol self-administration; Alcohol use; Alcoholic Intoxication; Animals; Behavioral flexibility; Drinking behavior; Drug self-administration; Ethanol; Interactive computer systems; Laboratory animals; Macaca mulatta; Male; Monkeys & apes; Rhesus monkeys; Set-shift; Task Performance and Analysis; United States > US; Alcohol self-administration; Behavioral flexibility; Set-shift; Rhesus monkeys
• ISSN: 0741-8329; 1873-6823
• DOI: 10.1016/j.alcohol.2021.08.006

This study was designed to replicate and extend a previous report that the increase in performance of an attentional set-shifting task (ASST) in rhesus monkeys predicted their future alcohol drinking status as a heavy drinker (HD) or non-heavy drinker (NHD). A cohort of 6 young adult male monkeys was trained and tested under the same ASST and then underwent a alcohol self-administration protocol that maintained open-access (22 hours/day) choice of alcohol or water 7 days/week for approximately 6 months. The average improvement in performance in the ASST, as measured by a performance index, was replicated in the cohort of 6 monkeys when compared to the increase in the task performance in a previous cohort of 9 male monkeys. The alcohol self-administration protocol was then used to determine the drinking status (HD: n = 4 or NHD: n = 2) of the replicate cohort, which was accurately predicted by the performance on the ASST. Finally, individuals from both cohorts could be combined based on future drinking status of HD (n = 8) or NHD (n = 7), and the association with pre-alcohol ASST performance remained. Specifically, monkeys that had lower rates of PI improvement were more likely to become HDs. To our knowledge, this is the first study to replicate that deficits in the set-shifting performance can predict chronic heavy alcohol drinking in primates.
•The improvement in performance on a self-pacing attentional set-shifting task was replicated in a separate cohort of rhesus monkeys, demonstrating that acquiring proficiency in the task is a stable feature of this population of monkeys.•Future categorical drinking levels were robustly predicted by rate of improvement on the set-shifting task in a replicate cohort.•When cohorts were combined, low rates of performance improvement robustly predicted future status as a chronic heavy alcohol drinker.