Heavy drinking, impulsivity and attentional narrowing following alcohol cue exposure

Rationale Research shows that alcohol-related stimuli have the propensity to capture attention among individuals motivated to consume alcohol. Research has further demonstrated that impulsive individuals are especially prone to this type of attentional bias. Recently, it is suggested that alcohol cu...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Psychopharmacology 2015-08, Vol.232 (15), p.2773-2779
Main Authors: Hicks, Joshua A., Fields, Sherecce, Davis, William E., Gable, Philip A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Alcohol Drinking - psychology
Alcohol use
Alcoholic Intoxication - psychology
Analysis
Attention - physiology
Attentional bias
Behavior, Addictive - psychology
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Biomedicine
Cues
Drinking (Alcoholic beverages)
Female
Health aspects
Humans
Impulsive Behavior - physiology
Impulsivity
Male
Motivation - physiology
Neurosciences
Original Investigation
Pharmacology/Toxicology
Psychiatry
Psychopharmacology
Stimuli (Psychology)
Young Adult
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Summary:Rationale Research shows that alcohol-related stimuli have the propensity to capture attention among individuals motivated to consume alcohol. Research has further demonstrated that impulsive individuals are especially prone to this type of attentional bias. Recently, it is suggested that alcohol cue exposure can also produce a general narrowing of attention consistent with the activation of approach motivational states. Objective Based on previous models of addiction and recent research on the activation of approach motivational states, we predicted that impulsive individuals would demonstrate a constriction of attentional focus in response to alcohol cue exposure. Methods Participants ( n  = 392) completed a task assessing attentional breadth in response to alcohol and non-alcohol cues, followed by measures of alcohol use and impulsivity. Results The findings revealed that impulsivity scores predicted narrowing of attentional scope following the presentation of alcohol cues for heavier drinkers but not for light drinkers. Conclusion These results suggest that impulsive individuals who drink more heavily demonstrate a narrowing of attention in the presence of alcohol-related incentive cues. Implications for how these findings might account for the link between impulsivity and alcohol use and misuse are discussed.
ISSN:0033-3158
1432-2072
DOI:10.1007/s00213-015-3912-3