Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Search research articles

Related Experiment Videos

Working Memory Training Improves Alcohol Users' Episodic Future Thinking: A Rate-Dependent Analysis.

Sarah E Snider¹, Harshawardhan U Deshpande¹, Jonathan M Lisinski¹

¹Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Roanoke, Virginia.

Biological Psychiatry. Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging

|March 13, 2018

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

A vendor-neutral functional MRI acquisition protocol for multi-site studies.

Aperture neuro·2026

Same author

Tactile force evokes a biphasic BOLD response in ipsilateral primary somatosensory cortex.

Imaging neuroscience (Cambridge, Mass.)·2026

Same author

The impact of cumulative vulnerabilities on the valuation of cigarettes among veterans seeking to quit smoking.

Addictive behaviors·2026

Same author

Toward a Predictive Model of Success in Contingency Management: A Proof of Concept Study Utilizing Behavioral Economic, Clinical Severity, and Alcohol Use Severity Measures.

The Psychological record·2026

Same author

Impact of four tobacco tax policies on tobacco product purchasing patterns across socioeconomic groups.

Tobacco control·2026

Same author

Identification and management of nonsystematic cross-commodity data: Toward best practice.

Experimental and clinical psychopharmacology·2026

Same journal

How Do Similar Thalamocortical Circuits Produce Psychosis Versus Compulsivity?

Biological psychiatry. Cognitive neuroscience and neuroimaging·2026

Same journal

Cyclical alcohol craving is linked with estradiol-based modulation of ventral tegmental area functional connectivity and is blunted by childhood maltreatment.

Biological psychiatry. Cognitive neuroscience and neuroimaging·2026

Same journal

Altered sensorimotor-association axis patterning of global functional connectivity in an autism subtype with low levels of language, intellectual, and adaptive functioning.

Biological psychiatry. Cognitive neuroscience and neuroimaging·2026

Same journal

Beyond Self-Report: Depressive Symptom Severity Tracks Rapid Neural Responses During Natural Reading of Clinically-Grounded Depression Probes.

Biological psychiatry. Cognitive neuroscience and neuroimaging·2026

Same journal

Clinical and Neurobiological Characterization of Akathisia in Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders and Mood Disorders.

Biological psychiatry. Cognitive neuroscience and neuroimaging·2026

Same journal

Preserved white matter structure at the grey matter-white matter interface despite widespread cortical thinning in early psychosis.

Biological psychiatry. Cognitive neuroscience and neuroimaging·2026

See all related articles

Working memory (WM) training improved cognitive tasks in individuals with alcohol dependence. This training specifically enhanced episodic future thinking (EFT) delay discounting (DD) in those with the most significant baseline deficits.

Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Psychology
Addiction Research

Background:

Episodic thinking (past/future) relies on shared neural systems, posing challenges for individuals with alcohol dependence.
Alcohol dependence is linked to a narrowed temporal window, increasing immediate reward valuation.
Working memory (WM) deficits in alcohol dependence may contribute to impaired future-oriented decision-making.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate if working memory (WM) training can improve cognitive functions in alcohol-dependent individuals.
To assess the impact of WM training on near-transfer (novel WM) and far-transfer (delay discounting - DD, episodic future thinking - EFT DD) tasks.
To explore rate-dependent intervention effects, considering baseline performance variations.

Main Methods:

Keywords:

Alcohol Delay discounting Episodic future thinking Near-transfer Rate dependence Working memory training

Related Experiment Videos

Fifty alcohol-dependent individuals participated in 20 sessions of either active or sham Cogmed WM training.

Participants completed novel WM, delay discounting (DD), and episodic future thinking delay discounting (EFT DD) tasks pre- and post-intervention.

Rate-dependent analyses were employed to examine baseline performance effects on training outcomes.

Main Results:

Active WM training significantly improved performance on the near-transfer novel WM task.
Rate-dependent improvements were observed: individuals with lower baseline scores showed greater gains in the trained group.
WM training led to a rate-dependent decrease in EFT DD among those with the highest baseline EFT DD scores; no effect on DD alone was found.

Conclusions:

WM training enhances near-transfer task performance in alcohol-dependent individuals.
WM training may improve episodic future thinking (EFT) delay discounting (DD) in a specific subset of individuals with the most impaired baseline performance.
Rate-dependent analysis is crucial for identifying individuals most likely to benefit from cognitive interventions.