Elsevier

Current Opinion in Psychology

Volume 28, August 2019, Pages 198-203
Current Opinion in Psychology

Mindfulness training for addictions: has neuroscience revealed a brain hack by which awareness subverts the addictive process?

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2019.01.014Get rights and content

Highlights

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    Self-control versus desire: a losing battle.

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    The role of reward-based learning (operant conditioning) in the addictive process.

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    The critical role of the orbitofrontal cortex in storing relative reward value.

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    Awareness updates reward value, moving individuals beyond habitual automaticity.

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    Mindfulness may ‘hack’ neural reward valuation to tap into reward-based learning.

Addiction is an age-old problem with desire pitted against self-control and will-power. In modern day substances (including food) and experiences (e.g. social media, internet gaming) are being increasingly engineered to get individuals ‘hooked’. Current cognitive control and reason-based paradigms may be losing a battle with urges, cravings and triggers that are more ubiquitous than ever (e.g. our smartphones). Yet, these methodologies may be overlooking basic reward-based learning paradigms (operant conditioning) that not only perpetuate addictive behaviors, but may also be the key to their undoing. Understanding core brain systems, including the role of the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) in reward value comparison as part of this learning system may give fresh insight into not only the automaticity and perpetuation of addictions but also how they can be overcome (potentially without relying on cognitive control). Importantly, awareness and mindfulness in particular may be paramount to unlocking the power of reward-based learning to change addictive habit patterns.

Section snippets

The (losing) battle between self-control and desire

Humans have been battling cravings and addictions for millennia. Hofmann and Van Dillen point to a relief on the Parthenon in Athens Greece (c. 440 BC) of a rider trying to tame his wild horse. The image depicts the struggle between impulses and desires and our ‘restraining forces’ of goals paired with will-power or cognitive control. The stronger of the two wins [1]. Yet never before has the world seen the convergence of our collective capacity to develop, refine, mass-produce, and distribute

Reward-based learning: an evolutionary giant

The association between trigger, behavior and reward has been studied ad nauseam, and has led to the modern-day concept of reward-based learning (aka positive and negative reinforcement, operant conditioning, reinforcement learning etc.). B.F. Skinner is widely recognized for his descriptions of this phenomenon, and Eric Kandel even received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in the year 2000 for his discovery that this learning process is present in the most basic of nervous systems,

Not all rewards are equal: the role of the orbitofrontal cortex

To explore the potential of harnessing the strongest of learnings systems, it may be helpful to understand one important aspect of reward-based learning: how reward is encoded in the brain. Reason-based behavior change posits that if we want to stop doing behavior X, we should simply notice the urge to do X, and not to act on it. This is simple enough for someone with superhuman self-control, yet it doesn’t take into account how reward-based learning works (for the rest of us). Reward-based

Subverting the dominant paradigm: can awareness transcend the dual between self-control and desire?

Drugs of abuse share a common neurochemical pathway with each other: they all lead to increased synaptic dopamine in the ventral striatum and downstream effects in reward-based learning. More recently, this work has even been extended to Facebook and Instagram simulations [13,14••]. If this learning pathway is indeed an evolutionary giant, and is being targeted by addictive substances and experiences/behaviors, how can we harvest or tap into the process itself, merging horse and rider to move

Mindfulness: more rewarding rewards?

Here, it is critical to find a reward that is more rewarding and doesn’t feed the habit loop through mere substitution of a different behavior. Mindfulness might fit the bill. Using stress as an example, what if, instead of smoking or eating cupcakes or chocolate, one substituted a mindful curiosity as a new behavior? Two unique differences emerge here: (1) one shifts from externally based behaviors (eating, smoking etc.) to internally based ones (curiosity); and more importantly, (2) the

Conflict of interest statement

Judson A. Brewer owns stock in MindSciences. This financial interest has been disclosed to and is being managed by Brown University, in accordance with its Conflict of Interest and Conflict of Commitment policies.

References and recommended reading

Papers of particular interest, published within the period of review, have been highlighted as:

  • • of special interest

  • •• of outstanding interest

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Dr. Mahri Leonard-Fleckman for proofreading and insightful comments for the writing of this commentary. This commentary did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

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