title: Alcohol-cue exposure decreases response inhibition towards alcohol-related stimuli in detoxified alcohol-dependent patients.
abstract: The induction of alcohol craving and the cognitive processing of alcohol-related stimuli in alcohol-dependent patients have been reported to compete with inhibitory control and contribute to alcohol relapse. The aim of the present study is to investigate whether the induction of a craving state, using an alcohol cue exposure paradigm, influences response inhibition towards both neutral stimuli and alcohol-related stimuli in alcohol-dependent patients. Thirty-one detoxified alcohol-dependent patients were exposed to either their preferred alcoholic beverage or to a glass of water. They then performed a modified stop signal task, which used alcohol-related words, neutral words and non-words, and a lexical decision as the Go response. The alcohol-cue exposure group reported significantly higher alcohol craving and showed higher percentages of commission errors towards alcohol-related words than the control group. All participants, but especially those of the alcohol-cue exposure group, showed also shorter reaction times when alcohol words were used as targets in go trials. The induction of alcohol craving in detoxified alcohol-dependent patients increases the motivational salience value of alcohol stimuli, leading them to automatically approach alcohol-related cues and therefore impairing response inhibition towards those stimuli.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Psychology, Université de Liège, Liège, Belgium.
authors.forename: Fanny
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Kreusch
authors.affiliation: Institute for Health and Behavior. Integrative Research Unit on Social and Individual Development (INSIDE), University of Luxembourg, Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg.
authors.forename: Joël
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Billieux
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Psychology, Université de Liège, Liège, Belgium. Electronic address: equertemont@ulg.ac.be.
authors.forename: Etienne
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Quertemont
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy; D066249:Craving; D003463:Cues; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007266:Inhibition, Psychological; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology
keywords: Alcohol-cue exposure; Alcohol-dependent patients; Alcohol-related stimuli; Craving; Inhibition