Cocaine‐related stimuli impair inhibitory control in cocaine users following short stimulus onset asynchronies

Abstract

Background and Aims Cocaine users display a significant increase in inhibitory failures following cocaine-related images compared with neutral images in a modified cued go/no-go task, the Attentional Bias-Behavioral Activation (ABBA) task. The aim of this study was to demonstrate that stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) impacts inhibitory failures on the ABBA task. Design A between-subjects experiment. Setting An outpatient research unit in the USA. Participants Ninety-one cocaine users recruited from the community. Measurements Participants were assigned to groups in which they saw either cocaine (n = 46) or neutral (n = 45) images as the go condition. Cues were presented for one of five SOAs (i.e., 100, 200, 300, 400, or 500 ms) before a go or no-go target was displayed. Findings Participants in the cocaine go condition had a significantly higher proportion of inhibitory failures to no-go targets (F4,356 = 2.50, p = 0.04) with significantly more inhibitory failures following all SOAs (p < 0.05), than those in the neutral go condition. Within the cocaine go condition, significantly more inhibitory failures were observed following the 100 and 200 ms SOAs than after the 300, 400, or 500 ms SOAs (p < 0.05). Conclusions Cocaine-related stimuli appear to decrease inhibitory control in cocaine users at short (100 and 200 ms) stimulus onset asynchronies (SOAs: the amount of time between the start of one stimulus and the start of another stimulus), but not at longer (300, 400, and 500 ms) SOAs.

Assessment of inhibitory control in crack and/or cocaine users: a systematic review

“…In two studies, use of tasks with this type of stimuli was associated with worse inhibition performance in CU, detected as a greater variability in RT 35 and increased inhibition deficits in responses. 37 In contrast, another study using a similar task did not detect this association. 48 It is therefore important to understand the possible dysfunctions related to information processing exhibited by CU, such as attentional bias for cocaine and/or crack, for example, since such findings could contribute to treatment, to prevention of relapses, and to cognitive rehabilitation of these people.…”

Influence of Cocaine‐Related Images and Alcohol Administration on Inhibitory Control in Cocaine Users

“…This outcome is consistent with epidemiological findings in that nearly half of individuals who met criteria for cocaine dependence also met criteria for comorbid alcohol dependence in the US (United States Department of Health and Human Services, 2016). Cocaine users displayed impaired inhibitory control following cocaine cues (Pike et al, 2013, 2015). Alcohol impairs inhibitory control in drinkers (e.g., Dougherty et al, 1999; Marczinski and Fillmore, 2003, 2005; Weafer and Fillmore, 2015).…”

“…The ABBA task is a modified Cued Go/No-Go reaction time task, which was administered using E-prime experiment generation software (Psychology Software Tools, Pittsburgh, PA) on a PC computer (described in detail Pike et al, 2013, 2015; Weafer and Fillmore, 2012). The task consists of 250 trials divided into 5 blocks of 50 trials (sample trials are shown in Figure 1).…”

“…Cocaine-related and non-cocaine-related (i.e., neutral) images serve as cues to signal the likelihood of whether a response should be executed or withheld (Pike et al, 2013, 2015; Weafer and Fillmore, 2012, 2015). In the ABBA task, subjects are assigned to complete a version of the task with either cocaine-related or neutral images as go cues that are followed by a target requiring subjects to execute a response (i.e., go targets) on 80% of trials.…”

“…In the ABBA task, subjects are assigned to complete a version of the task with either cocaine-related or neutral images as go cues that are followed by a target requiring subjects to execute a response (i.e., go targets) on 80% of trials. Cocaine users display impaired inhibitory control on the ABBA task when they are prepared to respond following cocaine cues compared to neutral cues (Pike et al, 2013, 2015). …”