Clinical Correlates of Attentional Bias to Drug Cues Associated with Cocaine Dependence

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Ashley P. Kennedy, Emory University; Robin E. Gross, Emory University; Tim Ely, Emory University; Karen Drexler, Emory University; Clinton D. Kilts, Emory University
• Language: English
• Date: 2014-09-01
• Publisher: Wiley: 12 months
• Publication Version: Author Accepted Manuscript (After Peer Review)
• Copyright Statement: © American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry.
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1521-0391.2014.12134.x
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: American Journal on Addictions
• ISSN: 1055-0496
• Volume: 23
• Issue: 5
• Start Page: 478
• End Page: 484
• Grant/Funding Information: This project was supported by NIH grants R21DA025243 (Emory University, Atlanta, GA; Clinton Kilts); and F31DA025491 (Emory University, Atlanta, GA; Ashley Kennedy) from the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA); and the National Center for Research Resources grants UL RR025008 and TL1 RR025010 from the Atlanta Clinical and Translational Science Institute (ACTSI) (Emory University, Atlanta, GA).
• Keywords: Science & Technology; ADDICTION; PERFORMANCE; Substance Abuse; Life Sciences & Biomedicine; INTERFERENCE; BRAIN ACTIVATION; USERS; ALCOHOL; HEROIN; NEURAL BASIS; EMOTIONAL STROOP TASK; RELAPSE FOLLOWING TREATMENT
• Research Categories: Health Sciences, Mental Health; Psychology, Clinical; Psychology, Behavioral

Abstract

Background and Objective: Preoccupation (attentional bias) related to drug-related stimuli has been consistently observed for drug-dependent persons with several studies reporting an association of the magnitude of measured attentional bias with treatment outcomes. The major goal of the present study was to determine if pre-treatment attentional bias to personal drug use reminders in an addiction Stroop task predicts relapse in treatment-seeking, cocaine-dependent subjects. Methods: We sought to maximize the potential of attentional bias as a marker of risk for relapse by incorporating individualized rather than generalized drug use cues to reflect the personal conditioned associations that form the incentive motivation properties of drug cues in a sample of cocaine-dependent subjects (N = 35). Results: Although a significant group Stroop interference effect was present for drug versus neutral stimuli (ie, attentional bias), the level of attentional bias for cocaine-use words was not predictive of eventual relapse in this sample (d = .56). A similar lack of prediction power was observed for a non-drug counting word Stroop task as a significant interference effect was detected but did not predict relapse outcomes (d = .40). Conclusions and Scientific Significance: The results of the present study do not provide clear support for the predictive value of individual variation in drug-related attentional bias to forecast probability of relapse in cocaine-dependent men.