Rat ultrasonic vocalizations demonstrate that the motivation to contextually reinstate cocaine-seeking behavior does not necessarily involve a hedonic response

Human self-reports often indicate that changes in mood are a major contributor to drug relapse. Still, arguments have been made that instances of drug-seeking following abstinence in animal models (i.e. relapse/reinstatement) may be outside of hedonic control.Therefore, the present study utilized ultrasonic vocalizations in the rat in order to evaluate affect during cocaine self-administration and contextual reinstatement of cocaine-seeking in a pre-clinical model of drug relapse (abstinence-reinstatement model). Results show that while subjects effectively reinstated drug-seeking (lever pressing) following 30 days of abstinence, and spontaneously recovered/reinstated drug-seeking following 60 days of abstinence, ultrasonic vocalizations did not increase over baseline levels during either reinstatement session. Theseresultsareconsistentwithpreviousresultsfromourlaboratoryandcurrenttheoriesof addictionsuggestingthat cues that are weakly associated with drug consumption can motivate drug-seeking behavior that is outside of hedonic