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The psycholinguistic analysis of client– counselor interactions indicates that how individuals talk about their substance use is associated with treatment outcome. However, the processes by which client speech influences out-of-session behaviors have not been clearly delineated. This study investigated the relationships between deriving relations–a key behavioral process by which language and cognition may come to influence behavior, shifts in the strength of client talk in favor of change, and treatment outcome among 75 cocaine-dependent participants (23% Female). Participants were trained to relate cocaine words, nonsense syllables, and negative-consequence words and were then assessed for a derived relation of equivalence before starting treatment. The DARN-C coding system was used to quantify the strength of participant speech during an early cognitive behavior therapy counseling session. Cocaine use during treatment was the outcome of interest. The analyses (a) characterized the process of deriving relations among individuals seeking help for their misuse of cocaine, (b) tested the relationships between shifts in the strength of participants’ speech in favor of change and treatment outcome, and (c) tested if deriving equivalence relations moderated the relationship between shifts in the strength of in-session speech and treatment response. Results indicated that a minority of participants derived equivalence relations, however increases in the strength of commitment language predicted less cocaine use during treatment only among those who did. The findings suggest deriving relations may be an important process by which changes in the strength of commitment language comes to influence substance use.

Aspects of stimulus-response (S-R) learning, mediated by striatal dopamine signaling, have been found to be altered in cocaine users relative to healthy controls. However, the influence of cocaine users’ marijuana and alcohol use has not been accounted for. This study evaluated S-R learning and other neurocognitive functions in cocaine users while controlling for the relative influences of marijuana and alcohol use. Twenty-five long-term cocaine users and 2 control groups (25 moderate marijuana and alcohol users and 23 healthy controls) completed a computerized assessment of probabilistic category learning (the Weather Prediction task), as well as measures of equivalence learning, declarative learning, and executive, attentional, and motor function. Cocaine users exhibited decreased performance on the Weather Prediction task, as well as measures of declarative learning, attention, and motor function (p 0.05), relative to both control groups. Cocaine users exhibited decrements in probabilistic category learning, declarative recall, and attentional and motor function, compared with both marijuana and alcohol users and nondrug users. Therefore, these decrements appear to be specifically related to the cocaine use, but not the moderate marijuana and alcohol use, of long-term cocaine users.

This study examined the acute effects of pretreatment with high-dose memantine, an N-methyl-D-aspartate antagonist, on the effects of cocaine in humans. Six African American men completed this laboratory study, in which, following pretreatment with memantine (0 or 60 mg), they had 5 opportunities to smoke cocaine base (0, 12, 25, or 50 mg) or receive an alternative reinforcer ($5.00 merchandise voucher). Cocaine alone produced the well-documented dose-dependent increases in cardiovascular activity and ratings of positive mood. Maximal systolic blood pressure was elevated during memantine pretreatment days. Peak ratings of "I feel stimulated" and "I feel anxious" were also higher with memantine pretreatment. However, memantine pretreatment did not alter the choice to self-administer cocaine. These data suggest that memantine pretreatment may not be helpful in the treatment of cocaine dependence.

The effects of zolpidem, a nonbenzodiazepine hypnotic, on psychomotor task performance, subjective effects, and food intake were examined during simulated shift work. Seven participants completed this 23-day, within-participant design, residential laboratory study. They received a single oral zolpidem dose (0, 5, or 10 mg) 1 hr before bedtime for 3 consecutive days under 2 shift conditions: day shift and night shift. When participants received placebo, next-day performance and subjective effects were disrupted, and food intake was decreased during the night shift. Zolpidem improved subjective reports of sleep quality and, to a lesser extent, next-day performance. Next-day mood, however, was worsened by zolpidem. Food intake was unaffected by zolpidem. These data indicate that shift changes produce performance impairments, mood alterations, and decreases in food intake, and that zolpidem attenuates some shift-change-related disruptions.

Six healthy adult male volunteers lived for 11 days in a residential laboratory. Acute effects of d-amphetamine (0, 5, or 10 mg/70 kg) on performance of tasks, social interaction, and self-reports of drug effects were measured. Each day, participants engaged in a 6.5-hr work period and a 6.5-hr recreation period. Beverages containing d-amphetamine or placebo were consumed daily before the work period and before the recreation period. d-Amphetamine increased response rate without affecting accuracy on some tasks. d-Amphetamine increased the proportion of time spent engaging in verbal interaction during the first but not the second week of study. No changes in self-reported drug effects were observed. Thus, d-amphetamine improved performance in the absence of stimulant-like subjective effects. This differentiation between performance and subjective effects confirms the importance of determining the effects of drugs on a range of behaviors. Language: en

Seven adult intravenous (IV) cocaine users completed a protocol investigating changes in behavior after the self-administration of cocaine. During sessions, the participants could self-administer up to 6 doses of IV cocaine (32 mg/70 kg) twice each day. Both 2- and 3-day binge conditions were tested. At 39 hr after the 3-day but not the 2-day binge of cocaine use, total Beck Depression Inventory scores were increased and participants reported increased ratings of Irritable and decreased ratings of I Want Cocaine. Exposure to stimulus cues associated with IV cocaine increased ratings of I Want Cocaine during periods of abstinence after both 2- and 3-day binges and increased ratings of Depressed only after the 3-day binge of cocaine use. The cessation of binge cocaine use produced modest changes in mood and cocaine craving that were related to the length of the binge and varied as a function of time since last cocaine use. Responsiveness to cocaine cues also varied as a function of the length of the previous cocaine binge.