Social users of alcohol and cannabis who detect substance-related changes in a change blindness paradigm report higher levels of use than those detecting substance-neutral changes

Abstract

A substance-related processing bias was independently revealed for both substances. The utility of the flicker paradigm for substance use research is demonstrated as sensitive and quick to administer (taking only 1 min).

Attentional bias affects change detection

“…B. T. Jones et al demonstrated that drug users exhibited an attentional bias for drug-related objects, so that heavier users detected changes in drug-related objects more quickly and in neutral objects more slowly than did lighter users and nonusers. B. C. Jones et al (2002) provided converging evidence that attentional biases influence change detection when multiple objects (drug related vs. neutral) undergo simultaneous change. These studies proposed that the biases in heavier alcohol and cannabis users augment the detection of changing alcohol-and cannabis-related objects by directing attention to those objects when they change.…”

“…Similarly, studies in which the visual probe paradigm has been used have demonstrated that smokers exhibit an attentional bias by directing their attention to depictions that include a smoking-related object (Ehrman et al, 2002;Mogg, Bradley, Field, & Houwer, 2003). Alcohol and cannabis users have also exhibited attentional biases to alcohol-and cannabis-related objects, so that these types of objects influence their ability to detect visual change (B. C. Jones, B. T. Jones, Blundell, & Bruce, 2002; B. T. Jones, B. C. Jones, Smith, & Copley, 2003).…”

“…Third, it needs to be determined to what extent the flicker paradigm can be modified (e.g., number of trials, spatial distribution of objects) and remain sensitive to attentional biases. In the studies by B. C. Jones et al (2002), and B. T. Jones et al (2003), attentional bias was demonstrated to influence performance across a single trial in which the groupings of drug-related and neutral objects were segregated to the opposite sides of the scene. Thus, it remains to be determined whether attentional biases persist across multiple trials and whether they are elicited when target objects are not spatially segregated from nontargets.…”

A working memory bias for alcohol-related stimuli depends on drinking score.

“…The robustness of AAB is reflected in the different experimental paradigms through which it has been demonstrated and across the spectrum of excessive consumption, that is, in those with alcohol dependence (Lusher, Chandler, & Ball, 2004;Stormark, Laberg, Nordby, & Hugdahl, 2000), in problem drinkers who had been diagnosed with alcohol use disorder and were in treatment (B. T. Jones, Bruce, Livingstone, & Reed, 2006;Sharma, Albery, & Cook, 2001), as well as in heavier social drinkers who were neither diagnosed nor in treatment but who scored high on alcohol consumption questionnaires (B. C. Jones, Jones, Blundell, & Bruce, 2002;B. T. Jones, Jones, Smith, & Copley, 2003;Sharma et al, 2001;Townshend & Duka, 2001).…”

Development of a repeated measures affective change blindness task

“…Similarly, B. T. Jones, Macphee, Broomfield, Jones, and Espie (2005) found significantly greater attentional biases in a group of poor sleepers, as compared to good and moderate sleepers, towards bedroom-related stimuli. In a series of articles, B. T. Jones and colleagues used a flicker paradigm to measure attentional biases amongst problem, nondependent alcohol and cannabis users, using images containing both substance-neutral and substance-related (alcohol or cannabis) objects (Beare, Sturt, Bruce, & Jones, 2007;B. C. Jones, Jones, Blundell, & Bruce, 2002;B.…”