Attention and Behaviour in Alcohol Dependence (ABAD)
Research type
Research Study
Full title
A comparison of signal-driven attentional capture in groups of alcohol-dependent and social drinkers: does sign-tracking predict consumption and risk?
IRAS ID
186100
Contact name
Abi Rose
Contact email
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 14 days
Research summary
Excessive alcohol consumption poses significant problems to individuals, society and the NHS. Identifying mechanisms that underlie drinking behaviour is important; helping highlight risk factors for harmful drinking.
Evidence suggests that reward processes help determine drinking behaviour and two types of reward-seeking have been found in animals: goal-tracking and sign-tracking. For both, animals learn that a particular cue predicts the availability of a reward (e.g., alcohol). Goal-tracking animals use this predictive relationship to obtain the reward (e.g., the cue motivates the animal towards areas previously associated with reward). Sign-tracking animals imbue cues with rewarding properties of their own; sign-trackers will often approach the cue at the expense of obtaining the reward. Sign-tracking has been associated with heavier drug administration and traits associated with hazardous drug intake (e.g., impulsivity).
Using a novel eye-tracking task, we tested whether tracking behaviours can be measured in humans. The task presents cues which predict small or large rewards alongside target stimuli. The goal is to ignore the cues and find the target as quickly as possible. The quicker the response, the more of the reward is earned. Attention to stimuli is a good measure of value/reward; we would expect sign-trackers to find it difficult to ignore the cue that predicts a large reward. While we measured differences in these two reward processes, we did not find a stronger relationship between sign-tracking, relative to goal-tracking, and heavier drinking in social drinkers. It is possible that the relationship between sign-tracking and drinking behaviour only becomes important once more excessive, dependent drinking develops.
The current study will compare task performance between social drinkers and alcohol-dependent participants. We expect to find 1) greater sign-tracking behaviour in those with alcohol dependence compared with controls, 2) sign-tracking to be positively associated with heaver drinking behaviour and higher scores on impulsivity questionnaires.
REC name
North West - Haydock Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
15/NW/0704
Date of REC Opinion
18 Sep 2015
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion