Attentional responses to stimuli associated with a reward can occur in the absence of knowledge of their predictive values

lassical conditioning theories of addiction suggest that stimuli associated with rewards acquire incentive salience, inducing emotional and attentional conditioned responses. It is not clear whether those responses occur without contingency awareness (CA), i.e. are based on explicit or implicit learning processes. Examining implicit aspects of stimulus-reward associations can improve our understanding of addictive behaviours, supporting treatment and prevention strategies. However, the acquisition of conditioned responses without CA has yet to be rigorously demonstrated, as the existing literature shows a lack of methodological agreement regarding the measurement of implicit and explicit processes. The purpose of two experiments presented here was to study the emotional value acquired by CS through implicit emotional and attentional processes, trying to overcome critical methodological issues. Experiment 1 (n=48) paired two stimuli categories (houses/buildings) with high (HR) or low (LR) probabilities of monetary reward. An Emotional Attentional Blink revealed preferential attention for HR over LR regardless of CA; while pleasantness ratings were unaffected, probably due to the intrinsic nature of CS. Experiment 2 (n=60) replicated the effect of conditioning on the Emotional Attentional Blink utilising abstract CS (octagons/squares). In addition increased pleasantness for HR over LR was found significant overall. and marginally significant for Aware but not for Unaware participants. Here CA was rigorously determined using a signal-detection analysis and metacognitive-awareness measurements. Bayesian analyses verified the unconscious nature of the learning. These findings demonstrate that attentional conditioned responses can occur without CA and advance our understanding of the mechanisms by which implicit conditioning can occur and becomes observable. Furthermore, these results can highlight how addictive behaviours might develop

Cognitive performance deficits in binge drinkers; The effects of alcohol challenge

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Emotional and cognitive consequences of repeated ethanol exposure: a translational approach

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Deficits in reward system activation and impulsivity: a predisposing condition to alcoholism?

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Mechanisms of attention for appetitive and aversive outcomes in Pavlovian conditioning

Different mechanisms of attention controlling learning have been proposed in appetitive and aversive conditioning. The aim of the present study was to compare attention and learning in a Pavlovian conditioning paradigm using visual stimuli of varying predictive value of either monetary reward (appetitive conditioning; 10p or 50p) or blast of white noise (aversive conditioning; 97 dB or 102 dB). Outcome values were matched across the two conditions with regard to their emotional significance. Sixty-four participants were allocated to one of the four conditions matched for age and gender. All participants underwent a discriminative learning task using pairs of visual stimuli that signalled a 100%, 50%, or 0% probability of receiving an outcome. Learning was measured using a 9-point Likert scale of expectancy of the outcome, while attention using an eyetracker device. Arousal and emotional conditioning were also evaluated. Dwell time was greatest for the full predictor in the noise groups, while in the money groups attention was greatest for the partial predictor over the other two predictors. The progression of learning was the same for both groups. These findings suggest that in aversive conditioning attention is driven by the predictive salience of the stimulus while in appetitive conditioning attention is error-driven, when emotional value of the outcome is comparable. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Dysregulated Response To Reward And Punishment In Alcoholic Patients In Abstinence

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Gender specific effects of a mild stressor on alcohol cue reactivity in heavy social drinkers

Rationale: Stress plays an important role in the development and maintenance of alcohol-abuse. Some of the effects of stress on alcohol-related behaviours, however, appear to be gender-dependent. Aim: The present study set out to examine the effects of stress on feelings of desire for alcohol, skin conductance response and alcohol consumption in the presence of alcohol-related cues in relation to gender. Participants were heavy non-dependent alcohol drinkers. Methods:Thirty-two (16 males) participants drinking more than 21 units of alcohol per week were randomly allocated to undergo the experimental stress (based on the 'Trier Social Stress' Test) or the non-stress procedure before the alcohol cue exposure procedure, during which participants handled and smelled their preferred drink. Mood and saliva cortisol level changes were used as indices of the stress effects, while alcohol craving, skin conductance and alcohol consumption were the cue reactivity measures. Results: Self ratings of anxiety and tension increased and cortisol levels remained high in the stress compared to the non-stress condition; no gender differences were found. Stress induced gender-specific effects with regard to skin conductance response and alcohol consumption measurements. Stressed females did not show an increase from baseline in the skin conductance response during the alcohol cue-exposure session, which was observed in the non-stressed females; they also consumed less alcohol than males under stress. Conclusion: Female participants respond less to alcohol-related cues when in a negative mood state. Such a finding suggests that females when in a negative mood may be less sensitive to positive incentive processes mediating cue reactivity compared to males

Hemispheric lateralisation in a manual-verbal task combination: the role of modality and gender

Differences in hemispheric lateralisation between males and females were tested using a manual-verbal task combination. The manual task was finger tapping and the verbal task required reciting words. Words were presented either visually or aurally in order to examine a possible role of modality of presentation on hemispheric lateralisation. The influence of the verbal task on motor task performance was evaluated by changes in the number of taps from single to dual-task condition. The influence of the motor task performance on the verbal task was examined by changes in the number of words recalled. Cognitive performance differences between males and females were also examined in a mental rotation task. The results showed a greater right finger (RH) tapping than left finger (LH) tapping interference, but only when the verbal task was presented in the visual mode. There was no difference in this pattern between males and females, both showing a greater RH tapping than LH tapping interference. The interference in finger tapping for both RH and LH was greater when the verbal task was presented aurally than when presented visually. Furthermore, females compared to males showed a greater interference in finger tapping when the verbal task was presented aurally than when presented visually. Later recall of verbal information was impaired equally by concurrent RH or LH tapping; however, later recall was better when the verbal task was presented visually than when presented aurally. No gender differences were found in delayed recall. Performance in the mental rotation task was better in males than in females. The data are discussed on the basis of theories of dual task interference and/or of brain asymmetry

Differential effects of stress on alcohol-related behaviours in moderate and heavy social drinkers

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Effects of alcohol on inhibitory processes

Earlier work has shown that alcohol may have disinhibiting effects on behaviour. Two studies tested the effects of a moderate dose of alcohol (0.6 g/kg) versus placebo on tasks that evaluate inhibitory processes related to alcohol stimuli, in moderate-to-heavy social drinkers (student population). An inhibition of interference task, the Stroop task (ST; study 1), and an inhibition of a prepotent response task, the go/no-go task (GNG; study 2), were used. The effects of alcohol on working memory function were also examined. Participants preloaded with alcohol made more errors on the colour and alcohol ST than those preloaded with placebo. In the GNG task, responding to alcohol-related pictures was slower than responding to neutral pictures. When participants were required to switch responding from neutral to alcohol-related go stimuli, responding became slower; however, responding to alcohol go stimuli became faster as time progressed; no effect of alcohol was found. Alcohol had no effect, compared with placebo, on the working memory tasks. Therefore, a moderate dose of alcohol had restricted effects on inhibitory processes: only interference inhibition measured in the ST was affected. Although the data obtained with the GNG task did not show an effect of alcohol on response inhibition, increased latency of response in the presence of alcohol-related stimuli compared with neutral stimuli indicates that alcohol stimuli are more salient to social drinkers, attracting a greater amount of attention