Addiction and the Prefrontal Cortex An Interview with Rita Z.
Goldstein, Ph.D.  by Brenda Patoine  April, 2007  Q: What is
I-RISA and how does it apply to the study of addiction?  A:
Together with Dr. Nora D. Volkow, we have recently emphasized
that human drug addiction can be characterized by Impaired
Response Inhibition and Salience Attribution (I-RISA), where the
motivation to procure drugs overpowers the drive to attain most
other non-drug-related goals. In this model, we mapped the core
clinical symptoms in drug addiction, including craving, or “drug
wanting” to the brain mechanisms that underlie the ability to
control behavior, especially in an emotionally salient (e.g.,
drug-related) context. In this model we postulated that drug-
addicted individuals attribute excessive salience (i.e.,
importance, relevance) to the drug and drug-related cues. At the
same time, insufficient salience is attributed to non-drug-
related reinforcers, stimuli such as food or social
relationships that increase the probability