Cue-induced auditory evoked potentials in alcoholism

Abstract Objective Conditioning processes may convert neutral stimuli to drug-associated stimuli and create an implicit drug memory. Previous studies showed specific psychophysiological reactions to alcohol-associated stimuli differentiating alcohol-dependent subjects from healthy controls. This was...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Clinical neurophysiology 2007-04, Vol.118 (4), p.856-862
Main Authors: Heinze, Martin, Wölfling, Klaus, Grüsser, Sabine M
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acoustic Stimulation - methods
Adult
Alcoholism
Alcoholism - physiopathology
Alcoholism and acute alcohol poisoning
Analysis of Variance
Auditory evoked potentials
Biological and medical sciences
Conditioned response
Craving
Cue reactivity
Cues
Electrodiagnosis. Electric activity recording
Evoked Potentials, Auditory - physiology
Humans
Investigative techniques, diagnostic techniques (general aspects)
Male
Medical sciences
Middle Aged
Nervous system
Neurology
Psychometrics
Psychophysics
Toxicology
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Abstract Objective Conditioning processes may convert neutral stimuli to drug-associated stimuli and create an implicit drug memory. Previous studies showed specific psychophysiological reactions to alcohol-associated stimuli differentiating alcohol-dependent subjects from healthy controls. This was shown in evoked potentials using visual and olfactory alcohol-related stimuli. Methods Our study examined the effects of complex alcohol-associated sounds in comparison to complex neutral sounds on electrophysiological event-related potentials and the self-report of craving. We assessed 10 detoxified alcoholics and 10 healthy controls in a cue-reactivity paradigm. Results Detoxified alcoholics demonstrated significantly higher alcohol stimulus-induced late P300 and late positive complexes. Subjective baseline craving and stimulus-induced craving only differed significantly between groups in terms of the craving dimension “relief of withdrawal symptoms”. Conclusions The results show that auditory stimuli attach importance to stimulus-induced craving in alcoholics. Therapeutic consequences will be discussed. Significance The study examined for the first time the effects of alcohol-associated auditory stimuli on alcohol craving and identifies learning processes as underlying neural mechanisms which support the assumption of an implicit addiction memory in alcoholics.
ISSN:1388-2457
1872-8952
DOI:10.1016/j.clinph.2006.12.003