Attentional alterations in alcohol dependence are underpinned by specific executive control deficits
(2014) 16th International Society of Addiction Medicine Annual Meeting — Location: Yokohama, Japan (2.October.2014)
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- Abstract
- INTRODUCTION: This study aimed at exploring the integrity of the attentional system in alcohol-dependence with a unitary and theoretically-grounded task. Attentional biases and deficits play a central role in the maintenance of alcohol-dependence but have been little explored. The Attention Network Test was used to precisely explore attentional alterations among alcohol-dependent participants, and centrally the differential deficit across three attentional networks (alerting, orienting, executive control). METHOD: 30 recently detoxified alcohol-dependent individuals were compared to 30 matched healthy controls. The Attention Network Test was administered. This task requires identifying the orientation of a central arrow replacing a cue and which is surrounded by flankers. On this basis, performance indexes (accuracy and reaction time) were computed for the three attention networks. RESULTS: Alcohol-dependent individuals showed a differential deficit across attention networks as compared to controls, with a preserved performance for alerting and orienting networks but impaired executive control (p < 0.001). This deficit was not related to psychopathological comorbidities but was correlated with the duration and intensity of alcohol consumption habits. CONCLUSION: Attentional alterations in alcohol-dependence are centrally due to a specific alteration of executive control. Intervention programs focusing on executive components of attention should be promoted, and these results support the frontal lobe hypothesis.
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Maurage, P., de Timary, P., Billieux, J., Collignon, M., & Heeren, A. (2014). Attentional alterations in alcohol dependence are underpinned by specific executive control deficits. Alcohol and Alcoholism, 49(suppl 1), i39. https://doi.org/10.1093/alcalc/agu053.6 (Original work published 2014)