A new test to measure attentional bias and cognitive disinhibition in drinkers, based on the Hayling task

AIMS

To generate and pilot unfinished sentences, based on the Hayling Task of disinhibition, which could be completed with alcohol or non-alcohol words. To determine whether drinking habits influenced responses on the new sentences, which may advance understanding of the cognitive processes underlying alcohol-related behaviours.

METHODS

Three phases: I-Generation of appropriate sentences (via email correspondence); II-Sentence completion to establish proportion of alcohol-related and non-alcohol-related responses; III-A Hayling-style task using the sentences (laboratory-based). During the Hayling task, sentences were completed with the first word that came to mind (initiation task), and with a word that did not make semantic sense (inhibition task). In Phase III, the alcohol use disorder identification test (AUDIT) was also completed to determine whether drinking habits were related to responses.

RESULTS

Fifteen sentences were generated and tested. Compared with low hazardous drinkers, higher hazardous drinkers gave more alcohol-related responses; persisted in giving alcohol responses in the inhibition task; and were slower to make non-alcohol-related responses. A positive correlation was found between AUDIT score and number of alcohol-related responses.

CONCLUSIONS

A new alcohol-related sentence-completion tool, based upon the Hayling disinhibition task, was developed and piloted. Responses on the task were associated with measures of alcohol use disorders. The task can be used in research investigating the processes underlying the acute and chronic effects of alcohol, such as attentional bias and disinhibition. In future, the task could be used in conjunction with non-alcohol-related sentence completion tasks to investigate general and alcohol-specific processes of disinhibition.

Implicit cognition and addiction: a tool for explaining paradoxical behavior

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Implicit cognition and substance use: a meta-analysis

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Spontaneous cognition and HIV risk behavior

Theories of cognitive processes and risk behavior have not usually addressed spontaneous forms of cognition that may co-occur with, or possibly influence, behavior. This study evaluated whether measures of spontaneous cognition independently predict HIV risk behavior tendencies. Whereas a trait-centered theory suggests that spontaneous cognitions are a by-product of personality, a cognitive view hypothesizes that spontaneous cognitions should predict behavior independently of personality. The results revealed that spontaneous cognition was an independent predictor of behavior tendencies in cross-sectional analyses. Its predictive effect was stronger than drug use, a frequently emphasized correlate of HIV risk behavior in the literature, and comparable with sensation seeking in magnitude. The results suggested that a relatively spontaneous form of cognition may affect HIV risk behavior.

Exploring the alcohol expectancy memory network: the utility of free associates

Alcohol expectancies are theorized to operate through associative memory networks. These networks are thought to differ on the basis of individual experience (direct and vicarious) with alcohol. Free-associate probabilities have been used in cognitive psychology as a metric of the associative strength of words to other words; this method has been used to establish the relationships within a semantic memory network. Participants from a large college sample were asked to free associate to the phrase "Alcohol makes me ______" They were also asked about their quantity of alcohol consumption. Results showed that specific responses were given with different probabilities by individuals who drank at different levels. The heaviest drinkers tended to have more positive and arousing responses than did lighter drinkers, who tended to have more negative and sedating responses. These results underscore the need to take into account relevant individual differences in behavior and experience when characterizing semantic networks.

Using the false memory paradigm to test two key elements of alcohol expectancy theory

Two key aspects of alcohol expectancy theory--(a) that memories about alcohol effects are stored as relatively cohesive templates of information and (b) that these templates are automatically activated in alcohol-related contexts--were tested using the Deese-Roediger- McDermott false memory paradigm. Alcohol expectancy adjectives were studied, and false memory for expectancy target words was tested in neutral and alcohol contexts. Results indicated that in the alcohol context heavier drinkers showed more false memory for alcohol expectancy words than they did in a neutral context. Differences were not found for lighter drinkers. These results were consistent with alcohol expectancy theory, which was then compared with various forms of association theory in explaining these results and larger issues in the addiction field.

Implicit measures in social cognition. research: their meaning and use

Behavioral scientists have long sought measures of important psychological constructs that avoid response biases and other problems associated with direct reports. Recently, a large number of such indirect, or "implicit," measures have emerged. We review research that has utilized these measures across several domains, including attitudes, self-esteem, and stereotypes, and discuss their predictive validity, their interrelations, and the mechanisms presumably underlying their operation. Special attention is devoted to various priming measures and the Implicit Association Test, largely due to their prevalence in the literature. We also attempt to clarify several unresolved theoretical and empirical issues concerning implicit measures, including the nature of the underlying constructs they purport to measure, the conditions under which they are most likely to relate to explicit measures, the kinds of behavior each measure is likely to predict, their sensitivity to context, and the construct's potential for change.

Positive alcohol expectancies and drinking behavior: the influence of expectancy strength and memory accessibility

College student drinkers (N = 314) participated in a health survey in which they (a) completed an alcohol-related memory association task (expectancy accessibility measure), (b) rated their positive expectancies about alcohol use (expectancy strength measure), and (c) reported their level of alcohol involvement. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that both expectancy accessibility and expectancy strength predicted frequency of alcohol use and alcohol-related problems. Moreover, moderational analyses showed that the association between expectancy strength and frequency of alcohol use was greater for those who generated more alcohol responses on the expectancy association task. These findings suggest that the outcome association measure and Likert scale ratings of expectancies may assess distinct properties of expectancy representations, which may have independent and interactive effects on different aspects of drinking behavior.