Journal article
Behavioral response bias and event‐related brain potentials implicate elevated incentive salience attribution to alcohol cues in emerging adults with lower sensitivity to alcohol
Addiction (Abingdon, England), Vol.117(4), pp.892-904
04/2022
DOI: 10.1111/add.15728
PMCID: PMC8904297
PMID: 34697852
Abstract
Aims
This study used a behavioral approach‐avoidance task including images of alcoholic beverages to test whether low sensitivity to alcohol (LS) is a phenotypical marker of a dispositional propensity to attribute bottom‐up incentive value to naturally conditioned alcohol cues.
Design, setting and participants
Experimental study with a measured individual difference variable at a university psychology laboratory in Missouri, MO, USA. Participants were 178 emerging adults (aged 18–20 years) varying in self‐reported sensitivity to alcohol's acute effects.
Measurements
Participants completed the alcohol approach‐avoidance task while behavior (response time; RT) and the electroencephalogram (EEG) were recorded. Stimulus‐locked event‐related potentials (ERPs) provided indices of integrated (top‐down and bottom‐up) stimulus incentive value (P3 amplitude) and conflict between top‐down task demands and bottom‐up response propensities (N450 amplitude).
Findings
Linear mixed models showed faster RT for ‘alcohol‐approach’ relative to ‘alcohol‐avoid’ trials for lower‐sensitivity (LS) [meanD ± standard errorD (MD ± SED) = 29.51 ± 9.74 ms, t(328) = 3.03, P = 0.003] but not higher‐sensitivity (HS) individuals (MD ± SED = 2.27 ± 9.33 ms, t(328) = 0.243, P = 0.808). There was enhanced N450 amplitude (response conflict) for alcohol‐avoid relative to alcohol‐approach trials for LS participants (MD ± SED = 0.811 ± 0.198 μV, Z = 4.108, P < 0.001) and enhanced N450 amplitude for alcohol‐approach relative to alcohol‐avoid for HS participants (MD ± SED = 0.419 ± 0.188 μV, Z = 2.235, P = 0.025). There was also enhanced P3 amplitude for alcohol‐approach relative to alcohol‐avoid for LS (MD ± SED = 0.825 ± 0.204 μV, Z = 4.045, P < 0.001) but not HS (MD ± SED = 0.013 ± 0.194 μV, Z = 0.068, P = 0.946).
Conclusions
Findings from a human laboratory study appear to support the notion that low sensitivity to alcohol indexes a propensity to attribute bottom–up incentive value to naturally conditioned alcohol cues.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Behavioral response bias and event‐related brain potentials implicate elevated incentive salience attribution to alcohol cues in emerging adults with lower sensitivity to alcohol
- Creators
- Roberto U. Cofresí - University of MissouriCasey B. Kohen - University of MissouriCourtney A. Motschman - University of MissouriReinout W. Wiers - University of AmsterdamThomas M. Piasecki - University of MissouriBruce D. Bartholow - University of Missouri
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Addiction (Abingdon, England), Vol.117(4), pp.892-904
- DOI
- 10.1111/add.15728
- PMID
- 34697852
- PMCID
- PMC8904297
- NLM abbreviation
- Addiction
- ISSN
- 0965-2140
- eISSN
- 1360-0443
- Number of pages
- 13
- Grant note
- National Institutes of Health (AA025451‐04S1; AA013526; R01 AA025451) University of Missouri Department of Psychological Sciences Mission Enhancement Post‐Doctoral Fellowship Fund
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 04/2022
- Academic Unit
- Psychological and Brain Sciences; Iowa Neuroscience Institute
- Record Identifier
- 9984446548402771
Metrics
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