Smells like inhibition: The effects of olfactory and visual alcohol cues on inhibitory control

RATIONALE: How the smell of alcohol impacts alcohol-related thoughts and behaviours is unclear, though it is well-documented that alcohol-related stimuli and environments may trigger these. OBJECTIVES: The current study, therefore, aimed to investigate the priming effects of both visual and olfactory alcohol cues on inhibitory control. METHOD: Forty individuals (M age = 23.65, SD = 6.52) completed a go/no-go association task (GNAT) which measured reaction times, response accuracy and false alarm rates whilst being exposed to alcohol-related (or neutral) olfactory and visual cues. RESULTS: Alcohol-related visual cues elicited lower false alarm rates, slower reaction times and higher accuracy rates relative to neutral pictorial cues. False alarm rates were significantly higher for those exposed to alcohol as opposed to neutral olfactory cues. CONCLUSIONS: By highlighting that exposure to alcohol-related olfactory cues may impede response inhibition, the results indicate that exposure to such stimuli may contribute to the activation of cognitive responses which may drive consumption. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s00213-016-4221-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

Deficits in autonomic indices of emotion regulation and reward processing associated with prescription opioid use and misuse

RATIONALE: Prescription opioid misuse and high dose opioid use may result in allostatic dysregulation of hedonic brain circuitry, leading to reduced emotion regulation capacity. In particular, opioid misuse may blunt the ability to experience and upregulate positive affect from natural rewards. OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to examine associations between opioid use/misuse and autonomic indices of emotion regulation capability in a sample of chronic pain patients receiving prescription opioid pharmacotherapy. METHODS: Chronic pain patients taking long-term opioid analgesics (N = 40) completed an emotion regulation task while heart rate variability (HRV) was recorded, as well as self-report measures of opioid misuse, craving, pain severity, and emotional distress. Based on a validated cut-point on the Current Opioid Misuse Measure, participants were grouped as opioid misusers or non-misusers. Opioid misuse status and morphine equivalent daily dose (MEDD) were examined as predictors of HRV and self-reports of emotion regulation. RESULTS: Opioid misusers exhibited significantly less HRV during positive and negative emotion regulation, and significantly less positive affect, than non-misusers, after controlling for confounders including pain severity and emotional distress. MEDD was inversely associated with positive emotion regulation efficacy. CONCLUSION: Findings implicate the presence of reward processing deficits among chronic pain patients with opioid-misusing behaviors, and opioid dosage was associated with deficient emotion regulation, suggesting the presence of compromised top-down cognitive control over bottom-up hedonic processes. Emotion regulation among opioid misusers may represent an important treatment target