scholarly journals Effects of Chronic Alcohol Use Disorder on the Visual Tilt Illusion

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guoqing Gao ◽  
Liangshuang Yin ◽  
Jun Cheng ◽  
Rui Tao ◽  
Yu Liu ◽  
...  

Rationale: Among the serious consequences of alcohol use disorder (AUD) is the reduced ability to process visual information. It is also generally agreed that AUD tends to occur with disturbed excitation–inhibition (EI) balance in the central nervous system. Thus, a specific visual behavioral probe could directly qualify the EI dysfunction in patients with AUD. The tilt illusion (TI) is a paradigmatic example of contextual influences on perception of central target. The phenomenon shows a characteristic dependence on the angle between the inducing surround stimulus and the central target test. For small angles, there is a repulsion effect; for larger angles, there is a smaller attraction effect. The center-surround inhibition in tilt repulsion is considered to come from spatial orientational interactions between orientation-tuned neurons in the primary visual cortex (V1), and tilt attraction is from higher-level effects of orientation processing in the visual information processing.Objectives: The present study focuses on visual spatial information processing and explores whether chronic AUD patients in abstinence period exhibited abnormal TI compared with healthy controls.Methods: The participants are 30 male volunteers (20–46 years old) divided into two groups: the study group consists of 15 clinically diagnosed AUD patients undergoing abstinence from alcohol, and the control group consists of 15 healthy volunteers. The TI consists of a center target surround with an annulus (both target and annulus are sinusoidal grating with spatial frequency = 2 cycles per degree). The visual angle between center and surround is a variable restricted to 0°, ±15°, ±30°, or ±75°. For measuring the TI, participants have to report whether the center target grating orientation tilted clockwise or counterclockwise from the internal vertical orientation by pressing corresponding keys on the computer keyboard. No feedback is provided regarding response correctness.Results: The results reveal significantly weaker tilt repulsion effect under surround orientation ±15° (p < 0.05) and higher lapse rate (attention limitation index) under all tested surround orientations (all ps < 0.05) in patients with chronic AUD compared with health controls.Conclusions: These results provide psychophysical evidence that visual perception of center-contextual stimuli is different between AUD and healthy control groups.

Author(s):  
Silke Behrendt ◽  
Barbara Braun ◽  
Randi Bilberg ◽  
Gerhard Bühringer ◽  
Michael Bogenschutz ◽  
...  

Abstract. Background: The number of older adults with alcohol use disorder (AUD) is expected to rise. Adapted treatments for this group are lacking and information on AUD features in treatment seeking older adults is scarce. The international multicenter randomized-controlled clinical trial “ELDERLY-Study” with few exclusion criteria was conducted to investigate two outpatient AUD-treatments for adults aged 60+ with DSM-5 AUD. Aims: To add to 1) basic methodological information on the ELDERLY-Study by providing information on AUD features in ELDERLY-participants taking into account country and gender, and 2) knowledge on AUD features in older adults seeking outpatient treatment. Methods: baseline data from the German and Danish ELDERLY-sites (n=544) were used. AUD diagnoses were obtained with the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview, alcohol use information with Form 90. Results: Lost control, desired control, mental/physical problem, and craving were the most prevalent (> 70 %) AUD-symptoms. 54.9 % reported severe DSM-5 AUD (moderate: 28.2 %, mild: 16.9 %). Mean daily alcohol use was 6.3 drinks at 12 grams ethanol each. 93.9 % reported binging. More intense alcohol use was associated with greater AUD-severity and male gender. Country effects showed for alcohol use and AUD-severity. Conclusion: European ELDERLY-participants presented typical dependence symptoms, a wide range of severity, and intense alcohol use. This may underline the clinical significance of AUD in treatment-seeking seniors.


Author(s):  
Jennis Freyer-Adam ◽  
Sophie Baumann ◽  
Inga Schnuerer ◽  
Katja Haberecht ◽  
Ulrich John ◽  
...  

Zusammenfassung. Ziel: Persönliche Beratungen können bei stationären Krankenhauspatienten Alkoholkonsum und Mortalität reduzieren. Sie sind jedoch mit hohen Kosten verbunden, wenn aus Public-Health-Erfordernis viele Menschen einer Bevölkerung erreicht werden müssen. Computerbasierte Interventionen stellen eine Alternative dar. Jedoch ist ihre Wirksamkeit im Vergleich zu persönlichen Beratungen und im Allgemeinkrankenhaus noch unklar. Eine quasi-randomisierte Kontrollgruppenstudie „Die Bedeutung der Vermittlungsform für Alkoholinterventionen bei Allgemeinkrankenhauspatienten: Persönlich vs. Computerisiert“ soll dies untersuchen. Design und Methoden werden beschrieben. Methode: Über 18 Monate sind alle 18- bis 64-jährigen Patienten auf Stationen der Universitätsmedizin Greifswald mittels Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (AUDIT) zu screenen. Frauen/Männer mit AUDIT-Consumption ≥ 4/5 und AUDIT < 20 werden einer von drei Gruppen zugeordnet: persönliche Intervention (Beratungen zur Konsumreduktion), computerbasierte Intervention (individualisierte Rückmeldebriefe und Broschüren) und Kontrollgruppe. Beide Interventionen erfolgen im Krankenhaus sowie telefonisch bzw. postalisch nach 1 und 3 Monaten. In computergestützten Telefoninterviews nach 6, 12, 18 und 24 Monaten wird Alkoholkonsum erfragt. Schlussfolgerung: Das Studienvorhaben, sofern erfolgreich umgesetzt, ist geeignet die längerfristige Wirksamkeit einer persönlichen und computerbasierten Intervention im Vergleich zu untersuchen.


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