title: Resisting temptation: decreasing alcohol-related affect and drinking behavior by training response inhibition.
abstract: According to dual-process models, excessive alcohol use emerges when response inhibition ability is insufficient to inhibit automatic impulses to drink alcohol. This study examined whether strengthening response inhibition for alcohol-related cues decreases alcohol intake. Fifty-two heavy drinking students were randomly assigned to one of two conditions: In the beer/no-go condition, participants performed a go/no-go task that consistently paired alcohol-related stimuli with a stopping response, to increase response inhibition for alcohol-related stimuli. In the beer/go condition, in contrast, participants were always required to respond to alcohol-related stimuli during the go/no-go task. Before and after the go/no-go manipulation, we measured weekly alcohol intake and implicit attitudes toward alcohol. In addition, we measured alcohol consumption during a taste test immediately after the go/no-go manipulation. Following the manipulation, participants in the beer/no-go condition demonstrated significantly increased negative implicit attitudes toward alcohol, and a significant reduction in weekly alcohol intake, while participants in the beer/go condition showed a non-significant increase in implicit positive attitudes toward alcohol and a significant increase in weekly alcohol intake. This study demonstrates that repeatedly stopping prepotent responses toward alcohol-related stimuli can be an effective strategy to reduce excessive alcohol use.
authors.affiliation: Clinical Psychological Science, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands. K.Houben@maastrichtuniversity.nl
authors.forename: Katrijn
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Houben
authors.forename: Chantal
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Nederkoorn
authors.forename: Reinout W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Wiers
authors.forename: Anita
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jansen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect / Q000187:drug effects*; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000378:metabolism / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy; D001290:Attitude; D001515:Beer; D003214:Conditioning, Classical / Q000187:drug effects*; D003463:Cues; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007266:Inhibition, Psychological; D008297:Male; D009042:Motivation; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000187:drug effects; D012984:Software; D013334:Students; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013649:Taste; D014495:Universities; D055815:Young Adult