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Rationale Deficient inhibitory control is predictive of increased alcohol consumption in the laboratory; however, little is known about this relationship in naturalistic, real-world settings. Objectives In the present study, we implemented ecological momentary assessment methods to investigate the relationship between inhibitory control and alcohol consumption in the real world. Methods Heavy drinkers who were motivated to reduce their alcohol consumption (N = 100) were loaned a smartphone which administered a stop signal task twice per day at random intervals between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. for 2 weeks. Each day, participants also recorded their planned and actual alcohol consumption and their subjective craving and mood. We hypothesised that day-to-day fluctuations in inhibitory control (stop signal reaction time) would predict alcohol consumption, over and above planned consumption and craving. Results Multilevel modelling demonstrated that daily alcohol consumption was predicted by planned consumption (β = .816; 95% CI .762–.870) and craving (β = .022; 95% CI .013–.031), but inhibitory control did not predict any additional variance in alcohol consumption. However, secondary analyses demonstrated that the magnitude of deterioration in inhibitory control across the day was a significant predictor of increased alcohol consumption on that day (β = .007; 95% CI .004–.011), after controlling for planned consumption and craving. Conclusions These findings demonstrate that short-term fluctuations in inhibitory control predict alcohol consumption, which suggests that transient fluctuations in inhibition may be a risk factor for heavy drinking episodes. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1007/s00213-018-4860-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

RATIONALE: Cue-elicited craving is a well-researched phenomenon in alcohol literature. However, not all alcohol-dependent people display the same reactivity to alcohol cues. Personality factors such as multiple impulsivity traits may be responsible for individual differences in cue reactivity by modulating its intensity. Nevertheless, there has been a scarcity of empirical studies testing this assumption in alcohol literature. OBJECTIVES: The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of response inhibition and trait impulsiveness on cue-elicited craving for alcohol in alcohol-dependent drinkers. METHODS: Participants (n = 41) were inpatients of the private clinic U-Center, Netherlands. Alcohol exposure took place in a real bar-restaurant close to the premises of the clinic, and participants were exposed to real alcohol cues. Response inhibition was assessed with the stop-signal task and trait impulsiveness with the Barratt impulsivity scale version 11. RESULTS: The cue exposure was successful as alcohol-dependent patients experienced higher craving for alcohol when exposed to alcohol rather than to neutral cues. Additionally, both response inhibition and trait impulsiveness predicted cue-elicited craving for alcohol. Trait impulsiveness predicted both the absolute craving in the bar-restaurant and the increase in cue-elicited craving during the whole alcohol cue exposure, while response inhibition predicted only the former. CONCLUSIONS: The results clearly implicate both trait impulsiveness and response inhibition in the modulation of cue-elicited craving in alcohol dependence. Theoretical and methodological issues in the findings and their clinical implications in alcohol treatment and relapse are discussed.

RATIONALE: Previous research has demonstrated a role for impulsivity and perceived availability of the substance in cue-elicited craving. However, their effects on cue-elicited craving for alcohol are still ambiguous. Most important is that there has been no empirical evidence for the potential interaction of these factors on alcohol craving. OBJECTIVES: The aim of the present study was to examine the effects of response inhibition and perceived availability on cue-elicited craving for alcohol in social drinkers. METHODS: Participants were light to moderate social drinkers (N = 75) who were exposed to neutral- and alcohol-related stimuli during a single laboratory session. Response inhibition was assessed with the Stop Signal Task. Participants were randomly assigned to one of two perceived availability groups (n = 37, expecting alcohol; n = 38, not expecting alcohol). RESULTS: Overall craving for alcohol was higher in participants who expected alcohol than in those who did not. This finding was statistically significant only in the alcohol condition. Most important is that there was a significant interaction between response inhibition, perceived availability and time on cue-elicited craving. Regardless of the cue type, impulsive people who expected alcohol experience a significant increase in cue-elicited craving relative to impulsive people who did not expect alcohol. This effect was not observed in the non-impulsive groups. CONCLUSIONS: The results clearly show that perceived availability alone and in combination with response inhibition can modulate alcohol cue reactivity. Theoretical explanations and clinical implications of these findings are discussed.

Rationale: Since implicit attitudes toward alcohol play an important role in drinking behavior, a possible way to obtain a behavioral change is changing these implicit attitudes. Objectives: This study examined whether a change in implicit attitudes and in drinking behavior can be achieved via evaluative conditioning.Methods: Participants were randomly assigned to an experimental condition and a control condition. In the experimental condition, participants were subjected to an evaluative conditioning procedure that consistently pairs alcohol-related cues with negative stimuli. In the control condition, alcohol-related cues were consistently paired with neutral stimuli during the evaluative conditioning phase. Implicit attitudes, explicit attitudes, and drinking behavior were measured before and after the evaluative conditioning phase. Results: Following the evaluative conditioning procedure, participants in the experimental condition showed stronger negative implicit attitudes toward alcohol and consumed less alcohol compared to participants in the control condition. However, this effect was only found when the evaluative conditioning task paired alcohol-related cues with general negative pictures, but not when using pictures of frowning faces. Conclusions: These results demonstrate that evaluative conditioning can effectively change implicit attitudes toward alcohol and also suggest that this procedure can be used to change drinking behavior. Hence, evaluative conditioning may be a useful new intervention tool to combat alcohol misuse.

Rationale Reduced brain serotonin function is acknowledged as a vulnerability factor for affective disturbances. Since the production of serotonin is limited by the availability of its plasma dietary amino acid precursor tryptophan (TRP), the beneficial effects of tryptophan-rich alpha-lactalbumin whey protein (ALAC) have recently been studied. The effects of ALAC remain rather modest, and alternative protein sources of tryptophan may be more effective. Objectives We tested whether hydrolyzed protein (HPROT) has greater effects on the plasma TRP/large neutral amino acids (LNAA) ratio and mood than intact ALAC protein in healthy volunteers. Materials and methods In a double-blind, randomized cross-over study, plasma amino acids and mood were repeatedly measured in 18 healthy subjects before and after intake of ALAC and HPROT as well as after placebo protein, pure tryptophan, and a tryptophan-containing synthetic peptide. Except for the placebo protein, all interventions contained 0.8 g TRP. Results Significantly faster and greater increases in plasma TRP/LNAA were found after HPROT than after ALAC. In addition, the effects of HPROT on plasma TRP/LNAA were comparable with the effects of the tryptophan-containing synthetic peptide and even exceeded the effect of pure tryptophan. Sixty minutes after intake, mood was improved only following intake of HPROT and pure tryptophan, whereas longer-lasting mood effects were only found after intake of HPROT. Conclusions The use of a tryptophan-rich hydrolyzed protein source may be more adequate to increase brain tryptophan and 5-HT function compared with intact alpha-lactalbumin protein or pure tryptophan.

Contains fulltext : 55815.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Closed access) Rationale Heavy alcohol drinking increases the incentive salience of alcohol-related cues. This leads to increased appetitive motivation to drink alcohol as measured by subjective craving and cognitive biases such as attentional bias and approach bias. Although these measures relate to the same construct, correlations between these variables are often very low. Alcohol consumption might not only increase different aspects of appetitive motivation, but also correlations between those aspects. Objectives To investigate the effect of a low alcohol dose on changes in various measures of appetitive motivation. Materials and methods Twenty-three heavy social drinkers were tested in 2 sessions, once after receiving an alcohol prime dose and once after receiving a placebo drink. After drink administration, attentional bias was measured with a visual-probe task using concurrent eye movement monitoring. Furthermore, we measured the approach bias with a stimulus response compatibility task and subjective craving with the Desires for Alcohol Questionnaire. Results After the alcohol prime dose, participants had higher levels of craving and more pronounced attentional bias (faster reaction times to probes that replaced alcohol rather than control pictures, increased maintenance of gaze on alcohol pictures, and a higher percentage of first eye movements directed toward alcohol pictures). Approach bias was not influenced by the alcohol prime dose. The correlation between attentional bias and approach bias was significantly higher after the alcohol than after the placebo drink. Conclusions A low alcohol dose increased most measures of appetitive motivation for alcohol and increased the interrelation between cognitive measures of this construct.

Rationale In the present study, it was investigated whether smokers can acquire a behavioural approach bias through Pavlovian conditioning. Objective More specifically, it was tested whether pairing neutral stimuli with either smoking availability or unavailability would lead to both differential urge responding to these stimuli and a corresponding shift in approach bias. Materials and methods Thirty-nine low-dependent smokers performed a stimulus-response compatibility (SRC) task with which one can determine an approach bias. Next, participants received a conditioning session in which one cue (either a blue or yellow background screen colour) was paired with the opportunity to smoke (CS+) and another cue was paired with the absence of the opportunity to smoke (CS-). After conditioning, all participants again performed the SRC task. Results Evidence for the conditioning of an approach bias but not smoking urges was found. This effect, although, was only apparent when smokers had been prompted to determine the contingency between the cues and smoking outcome. Conclusions It is concluded that one can differentially condition an approach bias in low-dependent smokers.