Addiction Risks and Mechanisms Study Section – ARM

Topics

• Use and misuse of illicit drugs (including cocaine, heroin, marijuana, methamphetamine, new and emerging drugs) and alcohol; prescription drug misuse; nicotine dependence and use of alternative tobacco products.
• Environmental, psychological, cognitive, behavioral, and other risk factors that might influence or predict the onset or progression of addiction or substance misuse during critical developmental periods (e.g., adolescence, emerging adulthood) and across the lifespan; inter-generational transmission of addictive behaviors.
• Factors that might predict who is most likely to benefit from evidence-based substance use treatments.
• Social and environmental contexts that influence individual addictive behaviors.
• Acute and long-term behavioral and physiological effects of substance use and misuse.
• Laboratory studies examining drug or alcohol administration in controlled conditions.
• Neurocognitive processes associated with addictive behaviors such as cue reactivity, impulsivity, and decision making. Studies may include behavioral, brain imaging (e.g., fMRI), and electrophysiological (e.g., EEG) methods.
• Preliminary assessments of how candidate pharmacotherapies for substance use disorders affect neurocognitive processes and mechanisms associated with addictive behaviors.
• The development and testing of tools and methods for understanding addiction at the individual level.

Shared Interests and Overlaps

There are shared interests in substance use disorders with Adult Lifespan Psychopathology (ALP). Applications that emphasize risks and mechanisms of addiction and substance use disorders are reviewed in ARM. Applications that emphasize both substance use disorders and psychopathology are reviewed in ALP if the emphasis is on understanding the etiology and clinical course of mental health/psychopathologies.

There are shared interests in substance use disorders with Child Psychopathology and Developmental Disabilities (CPDD). Applications that emphasize studies of substance use in children, adolescents, and early adults are reviewed in ARM. Applications that emphasize biobehavioral, and clinical outcome of infants, children, or adolescents with maternal substance use in utero are reviewed in CPDD. 

Interventions to Prevent and Treat Addictions (IPTA): ARM and IPTA have a shared interest in substance use, addiction, and addictive behaviors. Applications focused on understanding the individual-level behaviors and mechanisms underlying substance use and abuse are reviewed in ARM, including biological, environmental, psychological, and neurocognitive factors that influence or predict the onset or trajectory of addictive behaviors; applications focused on intervening at the individual level to prevent and treat addictive behaviors are reviewed in IPTA.

Biobehavioral Regulation, Learning and Ethology (BRLE): ARM and BRLE have a shared interest in mechanistic studies of substance abuse. Applications focused exclusively on human behavior, including paradigms or concepts derived from animal models such as discounting and conditioning are reviewed in ARM; applications generally focused on animal models are reviewed in BRLE.

Lifestyle and Health Behaviors (LHB): There are shared interests in addictive behavior with LHB.  Applications that emphasize addictive behaviors at the individual level are reviewed in ARM. Applications that emphasize addictive behaviors in human subpopulations are reviewed in LHB. 

Social Sciences and Population Studies (SSPA-SSPB): ARM and SSPA/SSPB have a shared interest in social and contextual factors associated with substance use. Applications concerned with behavioral mechanisms driving substance abuse and addiction in individuals are reviewed in ARM; applications looking at population-level patterns and predictors of risk behaviors, including substance use, are reviewed in SSPA/SSPB.

There are shared interests in the neurobiological and neuropsychological mechanisms of substance use and addiction with Neural Basis of Psychopathology, Addictions and Sleep Disorders (NPAS). Applications that emphasize primary outcomes that are behavioral or psychosocial are reviewed in ARM. Applications that emphasize the neurochemical, neuroendocrine, or biochemical mechanisms of psychopathology, including addiction, are reviewed in NPAS.

Health Services: Quality and Effectiveness (HSQE): ARM and HSQE have a shared interest in prescription drug misuse (especially opioids). Applications focused on individual-level factors associated with patients’ misuse of, and/or addiction to prescription drugs are reviewed in ARM. Applications focused on system- and provider-level health care delivery or prescribing practices by providers are reviewed in HSQE.

Biobehavioral Medicine and Health Outcomes (BMHO): ARM and BMHO have a shared interest in pharmacological pain treatments, especially opioids. Applications focused on individual-level factors associated with patients’ misuse of, and/or addiction to prescribed opioids are reviewed in ARM. Applications focused on the clinical use of prescribed opioids for pain management interpretation of pain and quality of life are reviewed in BMHO.