title: Drug-related stimuli impair inhibitory control in cocaine abusers.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Cocaine users show impaired inhibitory control on cued go/no-go tasks and attention bias to drug-related stimuli in the emotional Stroop task. The results of a previous study suggested that there is a relationship between inhibitory control and attention bias in alcohol drinkers such that the presentation of alcohol-related images as a go cue in a cued go/no-go task significantly impaired inhibitory control compared to neutral images as a go cue. The present study determined the generality of these previous findings by assessing inhibitory control in cocaine users utilizing a modified cued go/no-go task with cocaine or neutral images as the cues.
  
  
  METHODS
  Non-treatment seeking cocaine users (N=30) completed the modified task after completing detailed measures of demographics and drug use. Participants were matched on basic demographic factors and were assigned to groups in which they saw either a cocaine or neutral image as the go cue.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Participants assigned to the cocaine image go cue condition had a significantly higher proportion of inhibitory failures to the no-go target than their counterparts assigned to the neutral cue condition, but there were no group differences on reaction time (i.e., accuracy was not traded for speed).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Cocaine users were less able to inhibit pre-potent responses when a cocaine-related image served as the go cue than when a neutral image served as the go cue, consistent with previous research in alcohol users. The outcomes suggest that cocaine-related cues produce disinhibition, perhaps contributing to the high incidence of relapse or continued cocaine use.
authors.affiliation: Department of Behavioral Science, University of Kentucky College of Medicine, Medical Behavioral Science Building, Lexington, KY 40536-0086, USA; Department of Psychology, University of Kentucky Arts and Sciences, Kastle Hall, Lexington, KY 40506-0044, USA.
authors.forename: Erika
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Pike
authors.forename: William W
authors.initials: WW
authors.lastname: Stoops
authors.forename: Mark T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Fillmore
authors.forename: Craig R
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Rush
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention / Q000187:drug effects; D019970:Cocaine-Related Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D003463:Cues; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007266:Inhibition, Psychological; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000187:drug effects; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors
keywords: Behavioral control; Cocaine; Inhibitory control; Response activation; Response inhibition