Influence of anxiety on electrophysiological correlates of response inhibition capacities in alcoholism.
Anxiety disorders are highly prevalent in patients with alcohol use disorder. The purpose of the present study was to examine the neural correlates of behavioral inhibition in alcohol-dependent patients (ICD-10: F 10.2), and in healthy controls and to determine the influence of anxiety on these processes. Therefore, behavioral responses (reaction times; error rates) and event-related potentials of 16 patients with alcohol dependence syndrome and 16 age-and gender-matched healthy controls were recorded while the participants performed an auditory go/no-go task. The patient group was stratified according to their self-rated trait anxiety (STAI) with scores above and below median. We hypothesized that patients suffering from alcohol dependence would show reduced no-go P3 amplitudes involved in response inhibition compared to healthy subjects. In patients with alcoholism and high trait anxiety the decline of no-go P3 amplitudes was expected to be less distinct. The estimation of effect size based on the reaction times of patients with high and low anxiety ratings revealed a cohen's d of 0.61 indicating a small effect. High trait anxiety ratings were also associated with slightly enhanced no-go P3 amplitudes in central brain regions (Mean no-go P3 amplitude at Cz: 10.43 microV) compared to patients with low anxiety scores (Mean 8.98 microV). The effect size (cohen's d) revealed a small effect. Using the Mann-Whitney-U-test for independent samples of the comparison of high- and low-anxious patients, however, did not reveal any significant differences concerning no-go P3 amplitudes. Patients with alcohol use disorder and healthy controls did not differ significantly with regard to reaction time, error rate and no-go P3 amplitudes. This study suggests that no-go P3 amplitudes in patients with alcohol use disorder might be affected to some degree by habitual anxiety. The results emphasize the importance of monitoring trait anxiety in studies regarding cognitive functions in subjects with alcohol use disorder.
Karch
Susanne
S
Dept. of Psychiatry, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Germany. susanne.karch@med.uni-muenchen.de
Graz
Christian
C
Jager
Lorenz
L
Karamatskos
Evangelos
E
Flatz
Andreas Stammel Wilhelm
AS
Lutz
Jürgen
J
Holtschmidt-Taschner
Bettina
B
Genius
Just
J
Reiser
Gregor Leicht Maximilian
GL
Möller
Hans-Jürgen
HJ
Hegerl
Ulrich
U
Soyka
Michael
M
Mulert
Christoph
C
D000328:Adult; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001007:Anxiety / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001303:Auditory Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology*; D004569:Electroencephalography / Q000379:methods*; D005072:Evoked Potentials, Auditory; D006801:Humans; D009433:Neural Inhibition; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D011930:Reaction Time; D013223:Statistics as Topic