Attentional bias and addictive behaviour

• Main Author: Ryan, Francis Noel
• Published: University of Edinburgh 1998
• Subjects: 616.89
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.661497

The relationship between attentional bias and aspects of addictive alcohol use was investigated. A modified Stroop procedure was administered to detoxified problem drinkers (N=33) attending a specialist day clinic and staff specialising in substance misuse treatment (N=32). The card format Stroop procedure contained words such as "alcohol" and "relapse" and neutral semantically homogenous words. It was predicted that the problem drinking cohort would show greater colour naming latency with alcohol relevant words compared to the neutral words than the control group. It was also hypothesised that significant relationships would emerge between indices of alcohol consumption and Stroop interference. Analysis of variance revealed significant main effects for word type with both alcoholic and "expert" subjects taking longer to colour-name alcohol related words (p< .001). Predicted interactions between word type and clinical status of subject were not observed. These results were consistent with earlier findings that expertise or familiarity were influential factors in Stroop performance and highlighted the need to control for this in future research using this paradigm. Alcoholic Ss did take relatively longer to colour-name alcohol related words than neutral words compared to controls, but this difference fell marginally short of significance (<I>p <</I> 0.07). Multiple regression analysis with the entire sample (N=65) showed that equations with the Severity of Alcohol Dependence Questionnaire (S.A.D.Q.) and the number of years regular drinking were significantly predictive of colour naming latency for alcohol related words (<I>p < .001</I>). Theoretical and clinical aspects were discussed including the role of automaticity in additive behaviour and implications for therapeutic intervention.