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Background: Research on decision‐making (DM) biases in persons with alcohol use disorder have largely relied on behavioral economic DM tasks, which do not assess the dynamic multitude of factors associated with real‐world decisions about drinking. The current study extends the literature on DM and alcohol use by using a mobile daily diary approach to investigate whether, and how, real‐world incentives and disincentives are associated with actual drinking decisions in college students. Methods: We assessed current drinking and lifetime alcohol problems in 104 young adults (61.5% female, 84.5% White) who, for 14 days, used a mobile daily diary to respond to questions about drinking decisions from the day prior. Mobile prompts assessed daily data on the timing of drinking decisions, alcohol quantity initially decided to drink, quantity actually decided to drink, and the incentives that influenced drinking decisions. Results: Users of the app reported high usability, high compliance rates were observed, and incentive responses were reduced to three subtypes: alcohol, social/party, and mood. Daily mobile measures of drinking quantity were strongly correlated with self‐reported drinking 2 weeks prior to the daily assessment. Lifetime alcohol problems were positively related to the average quantity decided to drink per event, drinking more than initially decided, and higher levels of self‐reported drinking‐decision incentives. "Alcohol" and "social/party" incentives were positively related to the quantity the participant decided to drink at drinking events. Mood incentives and disincentives showed little to no significant relationships with drinking decisions. Conclusions: The results suggest that mobile data collection can be useful for assessing aspects of real‐world drinking decisions and the influence of multiple drinking decision incentives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies have shown differences in volume and structure in the brains of individuals with alcohol use disorder (AUD). Most research has focused on neuropathological effects of alcohol that appear after years of chronic alcohol misuse. However, few studies have investigated white matter (WM) microstructure and diffusion MRI–based (DWI) connectivity during early stages of AUD. Therefore, the goal of this work was to investigate WM integrity and structural connectivity in emerging adulthood AUD subjects using both conventional DWI metrics and a novel connectomics approach. Methods: Twenty‐two AUD and 18 controls (CON) underwent anatomic and diffusion MRI. Outcome measures were scalar diffusion metrics and structural network connectomes. Tract‐Based Spatial Statistics was used to investigate group differences in diffusion measures. Structural connectomes were used as input into a community structure procedure to obtain a coclassification index matrix (an indicator of community association strength) for each subject. Differences in coclassification and structural connectivity (indexed by streamline density) were assessed via the Network Based Statistics Toolbox. Results: AUD had higher fractional anisotropy (FA) values throughout the major WM tracts, but also had lower FA values in WM tracts in the cerebellum and right insula (pTFCE < 0.05). Mean diffusivity was generally lower in the AUD group (pTFCE < 0.05). AUD had lower coclassification of nodes between ventral attention and default mode networks and higher coclassification between nodes of visual, default mode, and somatomotor networks. Additionally, AUD had higher fiber density between an adjacent pair of nodes within the default mode network. Conclusions: Our results indicate that emerging adulthood AUD subjects may have differential patterns of FA and distinct differences in structural connectomes compared with CON. These data suggest that such alterations in microstructure and structural connectivity may uniquely characterize early stages of AUD and/or a predisposition for development of AUD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Low working memory (WM) capacity is associated with alcohol use disorders (AUDs). The importance of WM to adaptive functioning has led to a recent influx of studies attempting to improve individual WM capacity using various cognitive training methods. The present study aimed to examine the efficacy of complex WM training for improving WM capacity among individuals with AUD. Methods: Individuals were randomized to complete either adaptive WM training or active control training. We applied a methodologically rigorous and structured approach, including a battery of near and moderate transfer measures in those with AUDs and a control group. Additionally, we examined cognitive factors (at baseline) and other predictors of adherence, training task improvement, and transfer. Results: Results suggest improved WM in individuals with AUDs and controls, as evidenced by improved scores on several transfer measures, after adaptive WM training. However, individuals with AUDs showed poorer adherence and less improvement on the training tasks themselves. Neither IQ, WM, sex, nor condition predicted adherence. Level of training task performance, baseline WM, and IQ predicted transfer task improvement. Conclusions: This is the first study to rigorously examine both the efficacy of WM training in those with AUDs, and predictors of successful training program adherence and transfer in a large sample. Among study completers, results suggest that AUD status does not predict training improvement and transfer. However, AUD status did predict lower program adherence. WM training was more effective in those with higher cognitive ability at baseline. This study provides direct translation to the development of cognitive interventions for treating AUD. The importance of working memory (WM) to adaptive functioning has led to an influx of studies attempting to improve WM in a variety of clinical populations. We examined the efficacy of a complex WM training program in those with Alcohol Use Disorders (AUDs), and predictors of effective training and adherence. AUD status predicted lower program adherence but not direct training effects for those who completed training, providing direct translation for the development of future cognitive interventions for AUDs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Alcohol use disorders ( AUDs) are associated with increased discounting of delayed rewards and reduced executive working memory ( eWM) capacity. This association is amplified when comorbid with antisocial psychopathology ( AP). Furthermore, recent studies suggest that reduced WM capacity is associated with disinhibited decisions reflected by increased impulsive decision making on the delay discounting of rewards task. While discounting of delayed rewards is well studied, the discounting of delayed losses has received significantly less experimental attention. Methods The current study investigated (i) the rate of discounting of delayed losses in individuals with AUD only ( n = 61), AUD with comorbid AP ( n = 79) and healthy controls ( n = 64); (ii) the relationship between eWM capacity and discounting of delayed losses; and (iii) the effect of a WM load on discounting of delayed losses. Discounting performance was assessed using a computerized discounting of delayed losses task. Results Results showed that the AUD-only and AUD- AP groups had higher rates of discounting of delayed losses and lower eWM capacity compared to the control groups. Lower individual eWM capacity was associated with increased discounting of delayed losses. However, WM load did not increase discounting rates overall. Conclusions These results support the hypothesis that greater discounting of delayed losses is associated with AUD and comorbid AP problems and lower individual eWM capacity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Alcohol use disorders are associated with patterns of impulsive/risky decision making on behavioral economic decision tasks, but little is known about the factors affecting drinking-related decisions. Methods The effects of incentives and disincentives to attend and drink at hypothetical alcohol-related party events as a function of lifetime ( LT) alcohol and antisocial problems were examined in a sample of 434 young adults who varied widely in LT alcohol and antisocial problems. Results Moderate and high disincentives substantially discouraged decisions to attend the party events and were associated with decisions to drink less at the party events. High versus low party incentives were associated with more attendance decisions. LT antisocial problems were associated with being less deterred from attending by moderate and high disincentives. LT alcohol problems were associated with greater attendance at high party incentive contexts. LT alcohol problems were associated with drinking more at the majority of events; however, the results indicate that young adults with high levels of alcohol problems moderate their drinking in response to moderate and high disincentives. Finally, attendance and drinking decisions on this hypothetical task were significantly related to actual drinking practices. Conclusions The results suggest that antisocial symptoms are associated with a reduced sensitivity to the potential negative consequences of drinking, while alcohol problems are associated with a greater sensitivity to the rewarding aspects of partying. The results also underline the value of directly assessing drinking-related decisions in different hypothetical contexts as well as assessing decisions about attendance at risky drinking events in addition to drinking amount decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Two studies were conducted to investigate the disinhibitory mechanisms that (1) discriminate early-onset alcoholism (EOA) with conduct disorder (CD; antisocial EOA) from a nonantisocial subtype of EOA and (2) are associated with novelty-seeking and low harm avoidance. Methods: Young adults with antisocial EOA ( n= 96), with nonantisocial EOA (without CD; n= 80), with CD alone ( n= 50), and controls ( n= 125) were given two go/no go tasks (one with monetary loss and the other with shock punishment), the Digit Span test (working memory capacity), and personality measures of harm avoidance, novelty-seeking/impulsivity, excitement-seeking, and negative affectivity. Results: Study 1 revealed that antisocial EOA subjects had poor behavioral inhibition compared with nonantisocial EOAs and controls on both go/no go tasks and with the CD-alone group on the monetary-loss task. Low Digit Span scores accentuated poor inhibition in antisocial EOAs on the monetary loss, but not the shock task. EOA with low Digit Span was associated with higher hit rates on the shock task. Study 2 revealed that antisocial EOAs had high novelty-seeking/impulsivity and low harm avoidance compared with both nonantisocial EOAs and controls. Low harm avoidance was associated with poor inhibition with shock punishment, and this association was mediated by CD. For subjects with low Digit Span scores, novelty-seeking/impulsivity was associated with poor inhibition to monetary-loss punishment and higher hit rates to shock punishment. Conclusions: The results suggest two disinhibitory mechanisms that distinguish antisocial from nonantisocial EOA: an increased sensitivity to reward in nonaversive contexts associated with novelty-seeking/impulsivity and a decreased sensitivity to punishment in aversive contexts associated with low harm avoidance. Results also suggest that EOA and novelty-seeking/impulsivity are associated with a greater response to rewards in those with low working memory capacity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Recent research suggests that a reduced P300 amplitude of the event-related potential is associated with a vulnerability to alcoholism. This study tested the hypothesis that reductions in the P300 amplitude would be associated with specific dimensions of disinhibited personality (social deviance proneness and impulsivity) and that these personality traits would mediate the association between P300 and alcohol problems in a young adult sample that varied widely in disinhibitory traits. Methods: Alcohol problems, personality (impulsivity, social deviance, harm avoidance, and excitement seeking), and event-related potentials were measured in a sample of 190 subjects (87 men, 103 women) with a mean age of 20.7 ± 1.9 years. Results: Social deviance, impulsivity, and alcohol problems were associated with reductions in the P300, but only in male subjects. A structural model suggested that social deviance, impulsivity, and alcohol problems were all strongly related to P300 amplitude at Fz. Further analyses indicated that for male subjects, social deviance mediated the association between P300 at Fz and alcohol problems as well as the association between impulsivity and alcohol problems. Conclusions: This study suggests that reduced P300s are strongly associated with a general tendency toward antisocial, defiant, and impulsive traits, which might, in turn, increase the risk for alcohol abuse. The lack of an association between reduced P300s and personality or alcohol problems in women was unexpected and deserves further study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article represents the proceedings of a symposium at the 2000 RSA Meeting in Denver, Colorado. The organizer/chair was Muriel Vogel-Sprott. The presentations were (1) Alcohol-induced impairment of inhibitory control: Some commonalities with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, by Mark Fillmore; (2) Neural interactions that underlie response inhibition under alcohol: A functional magnetic resonance imaging investigation, by Craig Easdon; (3) Intentional control of behavior under alcohol, by Muriel Vogel-Sprott; and (4) Working memory and the disinhibiting effects of alcohol on passive avoidance learning, by Alicia Justius and Peter Finn. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This study was undertaken as one of a series of experiments designed to examine basic behavioral characteristics present in rats bred specifically for alcohol preference. The basic premise for these experiments has been the idea that alcohol-preferring and -nonpreferring rats may differ in basic activation and inhibition control mechanisms that govern behavior and that different lines of alcohol-preferring rats may demonstrate differential deficits in behavioral activation and behavioral inhibition tendencies. In the present experiment, conditioned approach and avoidance behaviors were studied in alcohol-naïve high-alcohol-drinking (HAD), low-alcohol-drinking (LAD), and N/NIH rats to evaluate behavioral activation in this line of rats. Methods: High alcohol drinking (HAD1), low alcohol drinking (LAD1), and N/Nih stock rats were trained to press a response bar during a tone signal to avoid a mild foot shock or receive a food reward. In addition, HAD2 and LAD2 rats, independently-bred replicate lines of the HAD1/LAD1 rats, were trained on the avoidance task. Results: Although the HAD1 rats easily learned the appetitive version of the bar-pressing task, they did not learn the avoidance response. The LAD1 and N/Nih rats learned both the approach and the avoidance tasks normally. Similar to HAD1 rats, the HAD2 rats did not learn the avoidance response whereas LAD2 rats showed significant avoidance performance levels. Conclusions: The present data demonstrated that both HAD1 and HAD2 rats had a rather specific behavioral activation deficit: although they easily learned to press a bar to receive food reinforcement, they did not learn to press the bar to avoid a foot shock. We speculate that this failure to learn the avoidance response may be related to heightened anxiety in the HAD rats and that this excessive anxiety may lead to the development of high levels of alcohol consumption in these selectively bred rats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Past research has demonstrated a link between alcohol use and risky sexual behavior; the processes that may underlie this association remain largely unexplored, however. Recent studies suggest that personality traits such as excitement seeking, impulsivity, and social deviance proneness may play an important role in both behaviors. Methods: A structural model of the association between disinhibited personality traits, alcohol use, and risky sexual behavior (sex with stranges/one-night stands) was tested. We recruited a sample of 410 college students that reported a wide range of scores on self-reported measures of disinhibition. We hypothesized that disinhibited personality characteristics would be primarily responsible for the association between risky sexual behavior and alcohol problems. A third-variable model was proposed to demonstrate this association. Results: The results suggested that the relationship between alcohol use and risky sexual behavior is best explained by their common association with excitement seeking. There was a significant correlation between alcohol use and risky sexual behavior when considered alone. However, when controlling for the effects of personality, the correlation was nonsignificant. In a final model, both excitement seeking and social deviance proneness were found to be significantly associated with alcohol use, and excitement seeking was significantly related to risky sexual behavior. Conclusions: Results suggest the relationship between alcohol use and risky sexual behavior is best characterized by a common association with excitement seeking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Disinhibited, antisocial traits increase the risk for early-onset alcoholism. Research also suggests that decision biases which favor immediate large rewards regardless of long-term consequences may be important mechanisms associated with the biological substrates of antisocial traits. This study tested the hypothesis that early-onset alcoholism with antisocial personality (ASP) would be associated with favoring immediate larger rewards despite their being associated with long-term losses. Methods: Twenty-seven early-onset alcoholics with and without a diagnosis of ASP, eight subjects with ASP but no alcohol dependence, and 32 controls were tested on a task that manipulated the magnitude of immediate rewards and the magnitude of long-term punishments. The sample was recruited from the community via advertisements. Results: Compared with subjects without ASP, subjects with ASP favored larger immediate rewards despite long-term losses regardless of alcohol dependence; however, they learned to shift their decisions in a more advantageous direction over time. A disadvantageous decision bias also was associated with drinking greater quantities of alcohol and having a lower IQ. Conclusions: This study suggests that ASP in a young adult noninstitutionalized sample was associated with a pattern of disadvantageous decision making similar to that observed in patients with antisocial behavioral characteristics associated with lesions in the ventromedial frontal cortex. The data also suggest that this pattern of disadvantageous decision making is associated with consuming larger quantities of alcohol but not consuming alcohol more frequently. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abnormalities in resting EEG may be associated with a predisposition to alcoholism. Research also suggests that high levels of negative affect are important mediators of the predisposition to alcoholism in the offspring of alcoholics. This study tested the hypothesis that the offspring of alcoholics show deficits in EEG alpha and excessive EEG beta activity, which, in turn, would be associated with high levels of negative affect. Participants were 37 men and 27 women with a positive family history of alcoholism and 37 men and 29 women with a negative family history of alcoholism. Personal and family history of psychopathology, psychological traits, and resting EEG were each assessed in separate testing sessions. Results indicated that subjects with a family history of alcoholism had reduced relative and absolute alpha power in occipital (01, 02) and frontal (F3, F4, Fz) regions, and increased relative beta in both regions compared with subjects with a negative family history of alcoholism. EEG alpha and beta activity were not significantly correlated with trait anxiety, a diagnosis of depression, or antisocial traits. The results suggest that deficits in resting EEG alpha are associated with risk for alcoholism, although their etiological significance is unclear. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Data collected from 95 nonalcoholic men who had either a multigenerational (MFH), unigenerational (UFH), or negative family history (FHN) of alcoholism were subjected to a discriminant function analysis to determine how well a set of variables differentiated between the family history groups. The data-set comprised personality measures (sensation seeking scales, neuroticism, and extroversion), measures of cardiovascular reactivity to unavoidable shock, and measures of the cardiovascular reactivity-dampening effects of alcohol. The discriminant analyses correctly classified 62% of all subjects, 75% of MFH subjects, 47% of UFH subjects, and 63% of FHN subjects. A canonical discriminant function analysis revealed one significant dimension (canonical variable) that differentiated between family history groups. The high density (MFH) family group scored positively on this dimension, while the UFH and FHN groups had negative mean scores on this variable. A MFH of alcoholism was characterized by a pattern of increased sensitivity to the cardiovascular reactivity-dampening effect of alcohol, cardiovascular hyperreactivity to unavoidable shock when sober, and the personality characteristic of experience seeking, which is associated with a desire for novel and unconventional experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two groups of sons of alcoholic fathers of differing family pedigrees for alcoholism [multigenerational (MGH) versus unigenerational (UGH)] were compared on measures of cardiovascular reactivity to unavoidable shock under alcohol and no alcohol consumption conditions. The MGH subjects were significantly more reactive than UGH subjects to the shock procedure on a measure of peripheral vasoconstriction (digital blood volume amplitude) with a similar trend on heart rate. The MGH subjects were significantly more sensitive to the reactivity dampening effects of alcohol than the UGH subjects on both cardiovascular measures. MGH subjects were also significantly more alexithymic than UGH subjects. The results are discussed in terms of the potential etiological significance of these characteristics in MGH males, and the importance of delineating the family history for at least two generations when assigning risk status to potential subjects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cardiovascular hyperreactivity to psychological stress has been implicated as a risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Recent reports have suggested that male off spring of multigenerational male-limited alcoholic families display cardiovascular hyperreactivity to stress. Data concerning cardiovascular disease in 371 individuals from multigenerational male-limited alcoholic families and other family types of differing risk for alcoholism were subjected to χ2 analyses. Results indicated a significantly greater incidence of hypertension in female members of multigenerational male-limited alcoholic families as compared to the other family types. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]