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Increased distractibility by task-irrelevant sound changes in abstinent alcoholics.
J Ahveninen1, I P Jääskeläinen, E Pekkonen
1Cognitive Brain Research Unit, Department of Psychology, University of Helsinki, Finland. jyrki.ahveninen@helsinki.fi
Alcoholism, Clinical and Experimental Research
|January 5, 2001
Summary
Chronic alcoholism impairs attention, causing distractibility and difficulty reorienting to tasks. Event-related potentials reveal enhanced mismatch negativity (MMN) in alcoholics, linked to attention deficits and early onset of alcoholism.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Psychology
- Addiction Research
Background:
- Chronic alcoholism is linked to frontal neuropsychological deficits, specifically attention maintenance issues.
- Alcoholics may exhibit involuntary attention shifting to irrelevant stimuli and impaired reorientation to tasks.
- Neural abnormalities underlying these deficits were investigated using event-related potential (ERP) components.
Purpose of the Study:
- To explore the neural underpinnings of attentional deficits in abstinent alcoholics using ERPs.
- To investigate the relationship between distractibility, reorienting abilities, and neural responses to auditory stimuli in alcoholics.
- To examine the correlation between these deficits and the onset of alcoholism.
Main Methods:
- Twenty abstinent male alcoholics and 20 age-matched controls performed a reaction-time task with auditory stimuli.
- Participants discriminated tone durations while ignoring occasional frequency changes.
- Event-related potentials (ERPs) were measured during the task.
Main Results:
- Alcoholics showed significant reaction-time (RT) lag due to deviant tones, indicating distractibility.
- A heightened mismatch negativity (MMN) amplitude in alcoholics correlated with RT lag and poorer performance.
- Increased RT lag after deviant tones suggested impaired reorienting in alcoholics.
- MMN enhancement and distractibility were associated with earlier onset of alcoholism.
Conclusions:
- Abstinent alcoholics exhibit attentional deficits, characterized by increased distractibility from irrelevant auditory changes.
- Enhanced MMN in alcoholics suggests impaired neural inhibition of involuntary attention shifting.
- These attentional impairments are most pronounced in individuals with early-onset alcoholism.