Substance use and the paradox of good and bad attentional bias.
Habitual substance use is associated with attentional bias for stimuli related to the use. The current study tested whether individuals' substance use can be predicted from their attentional bias for concern-related and substance-related stimuli. Participants (N = 71; 54% male) were selected among university students and the community. The study was conducted in Iran, in which alcohol consumption is illegal. Participants completed a substance use questionnaire and classic, substance-, and concern-related Stroop tests. The results show that after controlling for demographic variables and classic Stroop interference, increases in substance-related but decreases in concern-related reaction times predicted the amount of substances that had been consumed by the participants. Individuals' attentional bias for both substance-related and substance-unrelated goals may be important in predicting substance use behavior. The implication of the findings for treatment prognosis has been discussed.
Fadardi
Javad Salehi
JS
Department of Psychology, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Azadi Square, Iran. j.s.fadardi@um.ac.ir
Ziaee
Soleil
S
Shamloo
Zohreh Sepehri
ZS
D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D015982:Bias; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007492:Iran; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012737:Sex Factors; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000145:classification / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014825:Vocabulary