Event-related potentials in a Go/Nogo task of abnormal response inhibition in heroin addicts

Inhibitory control dysfunction is regarded as a core feature in addicts. The major objective of this study was to explore the time course of response inhibition in chronic heroin addicts and provide the neurophysiological evidence of their inhibitory control dysfunction. The amplitudes and latencies of ERP components were studied in fourteen heroin addicts (mean duration of heroin use being (13.54+/-5.71) years (Mean+/-SD), average abstinence being ((4.67+/-6.44) months)) and fourteen matched healthy controls with a visual Go/Nogo task. Our results showed that heroin addicts demonstrated significantly larger Go-N2 amplitudes which results in a decreased N2 Go/Nogo effect, but no statistically significant differences were found between heroin addicts and controls in P3. The ERP data suggest that fronto-central areas of heroin addicts were impaired during the inhibition process (200-300 ms) and over-activated to targets. The impaired early process might reflect an abnormal conflict monitoring process in heroin addicts. These results consolidate the inhibitory control dysfunction hypothesis in chronic heroin users.