@article{ref1,
title="Attentional bias to alcohol stimuli predicts elevated cue-induced craving in young adult social drinkers",
journal="Addictive behaviors",
year="2017",
author="Manchery, Linda and Yarmush, Devorah E. and Luehring-Jones, Peter and Erblich, Joel",
volume="70",
number="",
pages="14-17",
abstract="Considerable evidence has identified biased cognitive processing of alcohol-related stimuli as an important factor in the maintenance of alcohol-seeking and relapse among individuals suffering from alcohol use-disorders (AUDs). In addition, a large body of research has demonstrated that exposure to alcohol cues can elicit powerful alcohol cravings. Little is known, however, about the possible relationship between attentional bias and cue-induced cravings, and even less is known about these processes in social drinkers without a personal history of AUDs. The goal of this study was to examine the possibility that attentional biases toward alcohol-related stimuli would predict elevated cue-induced alcohol craving in this population. Young adult social drinkers (N=30, Mean age=22.8±1.9, 61% female) recruited from an urban university population completed a visual dot probe task in which they were presented with alcohol and neutral stimulus pictures that were immediately followed by a visual probe replacing one of the pictures. Attentional bias was measured by calculating reaction times to probes that replaced alcohol stimuli vs. neutral stimuli. Participants then completed a classic alcohol cue-exposure task and reported cravings immediately before and after alcohol and neutral cue-exposures. Not surprisingly, exposure to alcohol cues elicited significant cravings. Consistent with the study hypothesis, larger attentional biases toward alcohol stimuli predicted higher levels of alcohol craving. <br><br>FINDINGS demonstrate that heightened attention to alcohol stimuli can significantly impact motivation to consume in healthy young adults, and suggest a possible pathway linking cognitive processes early in the drinking trajectory to the later development of AUDs.<br><br>Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0306-4603",
doi="10.1016/j.addbeh.2017.01.035",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.addbeh.2017.01.035"
}