Where's the wine? Heavy social drinkers show attentional bias towards alcohol in a visual search conjunction task

Mapping Intimacies ◽

10.31234/osf.io/dahfq ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Charlotte Rebecca Pennington ◽

Daniel Shaw

Keyword(s):

Alcohol Consumption ◽

Attentional Bias ◽

Response Times ◽

Short Form ◽

Drinking Motives ◽

Conjunction Search ◽

Internal Reliability ◽

Social Drinkers ◽

Visual Probe ◽

Measured Response

Background and Aims: Research indicates that high consumers of alcohol exhibit attentional bias (AB) towards alcohol-related cues, suggestive of a cognitive mechanism that might drive substance seeking. Many tasks that measure AB (e.g., visual probe, addiction Stroop), however, are limited by their reliance on non-appetitive control cues, the serial presentation of stimuli, and their poor internal reliability. The current study employed a visual conjunction search (VCS) task capable of presenting multiple alcoholic and non-alcoholic appetitive cues simultaneously to assess whether social drinkers attend selectively to alcoholic stimuli. To assess the construct validity of this task, we examined whether alcohol consumption and related problems, subjective craving, and drinking motives predict alcohol-specific AB. Design & Setting: A VCS task was performed in a laboratory setting, which required participants to detect the presence of appetitive alcoholic (wine, beer) and non-alcoholic (cola, lemonade) targets within arrays of matching and non-matching distractors. Participants: Data from 99 participants were assessed (MAge = 20.77, SD = 2.98; 64 [65%] females), with 81.8% meeting the threshold for harmful alcohol consumption (MAUDIT = 12.89, SD = 5.79). Measurements: Self-reports of alcohol consumption and related problems (AUDIT), subjective craving (Alcohol Craving Questionnaire Short Form) and drinking motives (Drinking Motives Questionnaire Short Form) were obtained, and the VCS task measured response times for the correct detection of alcoholic and non-alcoholic targets. Findings: Participants were significantly quicker to detect alcoholic relative to non-alcoholic appetitive targets (p < .001, dz = .41), which was predicted positively by AUDIT scores (p = .013, R2 = .06%). The VCS task achieved excellent reliability (α > .79), superior to other paradigms. Conclusions: The Visual Conjunction Search task presents as a highly reliable method for assessing alcohol-related attentional bias, and shows that heavy social drinkers prioritise alcoholic cues in their immediate environment.

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Beer? Over here! Examining attentional bias towards alcoholic and appetitive stimuli in a visual search eye-tracking task

10.31234/osf.io/bu5g4 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Charlotte Rebecca Pennington ◽

Adam Qureshi ◽

Rebecca Monk ◽

Derek Heim

Keyword(s):

Eye Tracking ◽

Attentional Bias ◽

Dwell Time ◽

Response Times ◽

Tracking Task ◽

Visual Array ◽

Social Drinkers ◽

Visual Probe ◽

Appetitive Stimuli ◽

Appetitive Cues

Rationale: Experimental tasks that demonstrate alcohol-related attentional bias typically expose participants to single-stimulus targets (e.g., addiction stroop, visual probe, anti-saccade task), which may not correspond fully with real-world contexts where alcoholic and non-alcoholic cues simultaneously compete for attention. Moreover, alcoholic stimuli are rarely matched to other appetitive non-alcoholic stimuli. Objectives: To address these limitations by utilising a conjunction search eye-tracking task and matched stimuli to examine alcohol-related attentional bias. Methods: Thirty social drinkers (Mage = 19.87, SD = 1.74) were asked to detect whether alcoholic (beer), non-alcoholic (water) or non-appetitive (detergent) targets were present or absent amongst a visual array of matching and non-matching distractors. Both behavioural response times and eye-movement dwell time were measured. Results: Social drinkers were significantly quicker to detect alcoholic and non-alcoholic appetitive targets relative to non-appetitive targets in an array of matching and mismatching distractors. Similarly, proportional dwell time was lower for both alcoholic and non-alcoholic appetitive distractors relative to non-appetitive distractors, suggesting that appetitive targets were relatively easier to detect. Conclusions: Social drinkers may exhibit generalised attentional bias towards alcoholic and non-alcoholic appetitive cues. This adds to emergent research suggesting that the mechanisms driving these individual’s attention towards alcoholic cues might ‘spill over’ to other appetitive cues, possibly due to associative learning.

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Alcohol-related Attentional Bias Variability and Conflicting Automatic Associations

Journal of Experimental Psychopathology ◽

10.5127/jep.062317 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 9 (2) ◽

pp. 204380871877963 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Thomas E. Gladwin ◽

Matthijs Vink

Keyword(s):

Attentional Bias ◽

Implicit Associations ◽

Risky Drinking ◽

Stimulus Interval ◽

Social Drinkers ◽

Visual Probe ◽

Single Target ◽

Automatic Associations ◽

Attentional Responses

Attentional bias variability may be related to alcohol abuse. Of potential use for studying variability is the anticipatory attentional bias: Bias due to the locations of predictively-cued rather than already-presented stimuli. The hypothesis was tested that conflicting automatic associations are related to attentional bias variability. Further, relationships were explored between anticipatory biases and individual differences related to alcohol use. 74 social drinkers performed a cued Visual Probe Task and univalent Single-Target Implicit Associations Tasks. Questionnaires were completed on risky drinking, craving, and motivations to drink or refrain from drinking. Conflict was related to attentional bias variability at the 800 ms Cue-Stimulus Interval. Further, a bias related to craving and risky drinking was found at the 400 ms Cue-Stimulus Interval. Thus, the selection of attentional responses was biased by predicted locations of expected salient stimuli. The results support a role of conflicting associations in attentional bias variability.

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Where's the wine? Heavy social drinkers show attentional bias towards alcohol in a visual conjunction search task

Addiction ◽

10.1111/add.14997 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 115 (9) ◽

pp. 1650-1659 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Charlotte R. Pennington ◽

Daniel J. Shaw ◽

Jennifer Adams ◽

Phoebe Kavanagh ◽

Holly Reed ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Attentional Bias ◽

Search Task ◽

Conjunction Search ◽

Social Drinkers

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Alcohol-attentional bias and motivational structure as independent predictors of social drinkers’ alcohol consumption

Drug and Alcohol Dependence ◽

10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2008.03.027 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 97 (3) ◽

pp. 247-256 ◽

Cited By ~ 33

Author(s):

Javad Salehi Fadardi ◽

W. Miles Cox

Keyword(s):

Alcohol Consumption ◽

Attentional Bias ◽

Social Drinkers ◽

Motivational Structure

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Alcohol-Related Behaviour in Freshmen University Students in Sardinia, Italy

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph18137203 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 18 (13) ◽

pp. 7203

Author(s):

Alessandra Mereu ◽

Arianna Liori ◽

Claudio Dessì ◽

Mariano Girau ◽

Derrick Clifford Mc Gilliard ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Alcohol Consumption ◽

Alcohol Use ◽

University Students ◽

Age Of Onset ◽

Short Form ◽

Drinking Behaviour ◽

Prevention Measures ◽

Social Drinkers ◽

Factors Associated ◽

Identification Test

This study aims to provide a picture of University of Cagliari students’ alcohol-related behaviour and to explore factors associated with it. Data were collected by administering a questionnaire to 992 freshmen university students from different programs consisting of twelve closed questions, including three questions from the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test for Consumption (AUDIT-C short form). Three subgroups of alcohol-related behaviour were distinguished (risky drinkers, social drinkers and abstainers). In order to explore factors associated with patterns of alcohol consumption, a multivariate logistic regression was performed. The prevalence of risky drinkers was 35%. A binge-drinking behaviour at least once in the last twelve months was declared by 65% (more widespread in men and in students living away from their parents). Risky consumption is significantly associated with age of onset of alcohol use, living away from parents’ home, drinking outside meals and attending health courses. Regarding the levels of daily alcohol consumption perceived as a health risk, 66% of men and 88% of women indicate values higher than those recommended. The results underline the need for tailored prevention measures. University could be a promising setting to implement actions according to a health promotion perspective, to empower students to control their alcohol consumption.

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Measuring the Influence of Noise Reduction on Listening Effort in Hearing-Impaired Listeners Using Response Times to an Arithmetic Task in Noise

Trends in Hearing ◽

10.1177/23312165211014437 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 25 ◽

pp. 233121652110144

Author(s):

Ilja Reinten ◽

Inge De Ronde-Brons ◽

Rolph Houben ◽

Wouter Dreschler

Keyword(s):

Noise Reduction ◽

Hearing Aids ◽

Speech Intelligibility ◽

Response Times ◽

Hearing Impaired ◽

Listening Effort ◽

Arithmetic Task ◽

Test Retest Reliability ◽

Influence Of Noise ◽

Measured Response

Single microphone noise reduction (NR) in hearing aids can provide a subjective benefit even when there is no objective improvement in speech intelligibility. A possible explanation lies in a reduction of listening effort. Previously, we showed that response times (a proxy for listening effort) to an auditory-only dual-task were reduced by NR in normal-hearing (NH) listeners. In this study, we investigate if the results from NH listeners extend to the hearing-impaired (HI), the target group for hearing aids. In addition, we assess the relevance of the outcome measure for studying and understanding listening effort. Twelve HI subjects were asked to sum two digits of a digit triplet in noise. We measured response times to this task, as well as subjective listening effort and speech intelligibility. Stimuli were presented at three signal-to-noise ratios (SNR; –5, 0, +5 dB) and in quiet. Stimuli were processed with ideal or nonideal NR, or unprocessed. The effect of NR on response times in HI listeners was significant only in conditions where speech intelligibility was also affected (–5 dB SNR). This is in contrast to the previous results with NH listeners. There was a significant effect of SNR on response times for HI listeners. The response time measure was reasonably correlated ( R142 = 0.54) to subjective listening effort and showed a sufficient test–retest reliability. This study thus presents an objective, valid, and reliable measure for evaluating an aspect of listening effort of HI listeners.

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Should fertile women quit drinking alcohol to produce better quality oocytes?

Zygote ◽

10.1017/s0967199420000696 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 1-3

Author(s):

Burcu Ozbakir ◽

Pinar Tulay

Keyword(s):

Alcohol Consumption ◽

Young Women ◽

Antral Follicle ◽

Antral Follicle Count ◽

Control Group ◽

Social Drinkers ◽

Antral Follicles ◽

Healthy Women ◽

Significant Difference

Summary Alcohol consumption has long been shown to affect both fetal health and pregnancy. In this study, antral follicle count, maturation level of oocytes including morphological assessment and number of metaphase I (MI), metaphase II (MII) and germinal vesicle (GV) stage oocytes obtained from young women (age < 30 years old) with or without alcohol consumption were investigated. In total, 20 healthy women who were social drinkers and 36 healthy women who do not consume alcohol were involved in this study. Women in both study and control groups were undergoing controlled ovarian stimulation. The antral follicle count and the number and quality of the oocytes retrieved were evaluated and recorded. In total, 635 antral follicles, 1098 follicles and 1014 oocytes with 820 MII, 72 MI and 78 GV stage oocytes were collected from the social drinkers. In the control group, 628 antral follicles, 1136 follicles and 1085 oocytes with 838 MII, 93 MI and 102 GV stage oocytes were evaluated. The results of this study showed that the antral follicle count was very similar in both groups. The number of oocytes and MII stage oocytes was slightly higher in the control group, although it was not a significant difference. This study showed that although the consumption of alcohol may have adverse effects post-implantation, it may not have a solid effect during oogenesis in young women. The results of this study are especially important in clinical settings as some women who are social drinkers undergo in vitro fertilization treatments.

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Reward-Related Attentional Capture Moderates the Association between Fear-Driven Motives and Heavy Drinking

European Addiction Research ◽

10.1159/000513470 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-11

Author(s):

Chang Liu ◽

Murat Yücel ◽

Chao Suo ◽

Mike E. Le Pelley ◽

Jeggan Tiego ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Alcohol Consumption ◽

Attentional Capture ◽

Heavy Drinking ◽

Drinking Motives ◽

Drinking Patterns ◽

Cognitive Mechanisms ◽

Problematic Drinking ◽

The Past ◽

Motivational Profile

Background: To date, there has been little investigation on how motivational and cognitive mechanisms interact to influence problematic drinking behaviours. Towards this aim, the current study examined whether reward-related attentional capture is associated with reward, fear (relief), and habit drinking motives, and further, whether it interacts with these motives in relation to problematic drinking patterns. Methods: Ninety participants (mean age = 34.8 years, SD = 9.1, 54% male) who reported having consumed alcohol in the past month completed an online visual search task that measured reward-related attentional capture as well as the Habit Reward Fear Scale, a measure of drinking motives. Participants also completed measures of psychological distress, impulsivity, compulsive drinking, and consumption items of Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test. Regression analyses examined the associations between motives for alcohol consumption and reward-related attentional capture, as well as the associations between reward-related attentional capture, motives, and their interaction, with alcohol consumption and problems. Results: Greater reward-related attentional capture was associated with greater reward motives. Further, reward-related attentional capture also interacted with fear motives in relation to alcohol consumption. Follow-up analyses showed that this interaction was driven by greater fear motives being associated with heavier drinking among those with lower reward-related attentional capture (i.e., “goal-trackers”). Conclusion: These findings have implications for understanding how cognition may interact with motives in association with problematic drinking. Specifically, the findings highlight different potential pathways to problematic drinking according to an individual’s cognitive-motivational profile and may inform tailored interventions to target profile-specific mechanisms. Finally, these findings offer support for contemporary models of addiction that view excessive goal-directed behaviour under negative affect as a critical contributor to addictive behaviours.

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