This study assessed the separate and combined effects of two important instigators of relapse, alcohol cues and stress, on the salience of alcohol target stimuli and inhibitory control, in 12 male problem drinkers and 16 male controls. Subjects underwent two test sessions where they received alcohol cues (non-alcoholic beer) and/or stress (uncontrollable noise) in a counterbalanced manner. Testing was carried out through validated, computer-based tasks: modified Stroop, gambling-word Shift task; and conventional and modified (Alcohol word) Stop-Signal tasks. Inhibitory control was preferentially impaired to Alcohol stimuli in both groups. Beer and stress in combination increased incentive salience of Alcohol stimuli and moderated self-reported desire for alcohol in problem drinkers but not controls. Results suggest that alcohol cues and stress have interactive effects on subjective motivation, and disinhibit behaviour due to distraction in problem drinkers. Findings from this paradigm may improve understanding and facilitate treatment for relapse prevention in problem drinkers.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:OTU.1807/18958 |
| Date | 16 February 2010 |
| Creators | Tremblay, Anne-Marie |
| Contributors | Zack, Martin |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | en_ca |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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