Two views of the addiction elephant: comment on McSweeney, Murphy, and Kowal (2005).
F. K. McSweeney, E. S. Murphy, and B. P. Kowal present a convincing case that the literature on habituation and sensitization to the sensory properties of conventional reinforcers is relevant to understanding a variety of addictive behaviors. They note that their model has advantages over a number of alternative formulations. However, in discussing one particular such alternative, a Pavlovian conditioning analysis of drug tolerance and withdrawal, F. K. McSweeney et al. overstate the advantages of their reinforcer habituation/sensitization model.
Siegel
Shepard
S
McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4K1, Canada. siegel@mcmaster.ca
D003214:Conditioning, Classical; D004361:Drug Tolerance; D006801:Humans; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders