OBJECTIVE: The goal of the present study was to examine distributed attentional functions in long-term but currently abstinent methamphetamine (MA) abusers using a task that measures attentional alertness, orienting, and conflict resolution. METHODS: Thirty currently abstinent MA abusers (1 month-5 years) and 22 healthy non-substance using adults were administered a multimodal version of the Attentional Network Task (ANT-I). In this task subjects identified the direction of a centrally presented arrow using a key press. Analyses examined the interaction between alerting tones, location cueing and congruency between the target arrows and flanking distractor stimuli. RESULTS: All participants were faster when an auditory tone preceded the trial onset (p<0.001), on trials in which a valid cue preceded the location of the target arrow (p<0.001), and on congruent trials (i.e., when all display arrows faced in the same direction) (p<0.001). Of primary interest was the finding that MA abusers were more influenced by the conflict between the peripheral arrows and the central target arrow (p=0.009). There were also correlations between length of drug sobriety and executive function as well as between drug-induced psychiatric symptoms and alertness. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that chronic MA abusers display cognitive deficits that may reflect a specific vulnerability to distraction on a task of executive function. These findings are consistent with other studies that have reported deficits in anterior attentional systems and top-down cognitive control.
OBJECTIVE: The goal of the present study was to examine distributed attentional functions in long-term but currently abstinent methamphetamine (MA) abusers using a task that measures attentional alertness, orienting, and conflict resolution. METHODS: Thirty currently abstinent MA abusers (1 month-5 years) and 22 healthy non-substance using adults were administered a multimodal version of the Attentional Network Task (ANT-I). In this task subjects identified the direction of a centrally presented arrow using a key press. Analyses examined the interaction between alerting tones, location cueing and congruency between the target arrows and flanking distractor stimuli. RESULTS: All participants were faster when an auditory tone preceded the trial onset (p<0.001), on trials in which a valid cue preceded the location of the target arrow (p<0.001), and on congruent trials (i.e., when all display arrows faced in the same direction) (p<0.001). Of primary interest was the finding that MA abusers were more influenced by the conflict between the peripheral arrows and the central target arrow (p=0.009). There were also correlations between length of drug sobriety and executive function as well as between drug-induced psychiatric symptoms and alertness. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that chronic MA abusers display cognitive deficits that may reflect a specific vulnerability to distraction on a task of executive function. These findings are consistent with other studies that have reported deficits in anterior attentional systems and top-down cognitive control.
Authors: Jin Fan; Rachel Kolster; Jamshid Ghajar; Minah Suh; Robert T Knight; Ranjeeta Sarkar; Bruce D McCandliss Journal: J Neurosci Date: 2007-02-28 Impact factor: 6.167
Authors: Ruth Salo; Martin H Leamon; Yutaka Natsuaki; Charles Moore; Christy Waters; Thomas E Nordahl Journal: Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry Date: 2007-08-19 Impact factor: 5.067
Authors: William F Hoffman; Meredith Moore; Raymond Templin; Bentson McFarland; Robert J Hitzemann; Suzanne H Mitchell Journal: Psychopharmacology (Berl) Date: 2006-08-17 Impact factor: 4.530
Authors: Thomas E Nordahl; Ruth Salo; Kate Possin; David R Gibson; Neil Flynn; Martin Leamon; Gantt P Galloway; Adolf Pfefferbaum; Daniel M Spielman; Elfar Adalsteinsson; Edith V Sullivan Journal: Psychiatry Res Date: 2002-11-30 Impact factor: 3.222
Authors: James M Bjork; Lori Keyser-Marcus; Jasmin Vassileva; Tatiana Ramey; David C Houghton; F Gerard Moeller Journal: Psychiatry Res Date: 2022-05-01 Impact factor: 11.225
Authors: Nadine Bernhardt; Johannes Petzold; Cornelius Groß; Anna Scheck; Shakoor Pooseh; René Mayer-Pelinski; Ulrich S Zimmermann; Michael N Smolka; Maximilian Pilhatsch Journal: Front Psychiatry Date: 2020-07-02 Impact factor: 4.157