Related Experiment Videos
Alcoholics' selective attention to alcohol stimuli: automated processing?
K M Stormark1, J C Laberg, H Nordby
1Department of Biological and Medical Psychology, University of Bergen, Norway.
Journal of Studies on Alcohol
|January 8, 2000
Summary
Alcoholics struggle to control their attention towards alcohol-related words, indicating automatic processing of alcohol information. This difficulty in selective attention affects their response accuracy and physiological responses.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Neuroscience
- Addiction Research
Background:
- Alcoholism is associated with cognitive deficits.
- Selective attention plays a crucial role in information processing and addiction.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate selective attention to alcohol-related stimuli in individuals with alcoholism.
- To examine cognitive and physiological responses to alcohol words using the Stroop task.
Main Methods:
- Employed a Stroop color-naming task with alcoholic and nonalcoholic control groups.
- Measured manual reaction times (RTs), skin conductance responses (SCRs), and heart rate (HR).
Main Results:
- Alcoholics exhibited longer RTs to alcohol and emotional words compared to neutral words.
- A negative correlation between RT and accuracy for alcohol words in alcoholics was observed.
- Alcoholics displayed heightened SCRs and reduced HR acceleration to alcohol words, suggesting emotional significance and attention regulation difficulties.
Conclusions:
- Alcoholics experience challenges in regulating attention to alcohol stimuli.
- Findings suggest that alcoholics' processing of alcohol-related information is largely automated.