Martine Groefsema1, Rutger Engels1,2, Emmanuel Kuntsche1,3, Koen Smit1,2, Maartje Luijten1. 1. Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University, Nijmegen, the Netherlands. 2. Trimbos Institute, Netherlands Institute of Mental Health and Addiction, Utrecht, the Netherlands. 3. Addiction Switzerland, Research Institute, Lausanne, Switzerland.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Alcohol use occurs mainly among friends, in social contexts, and for social reasons. Moreover, cognitive biases, such as attentional and approach biases, have repeatedly been associated with alcohol use. This study aimed to test whether nondependent drinkers display cognitive biases for social alcohol-related (SA) pictures and whether these biases are associated with alcohol use in social drinking contexts. METHODS: The visual dot probe task and stimulus-response compatibility tasks were used to measure attentional and approach biases for alcohol-related pictures at baseline. Event-level alcohol use was measured using Ecological Momentary Assessments via personal smartphones. One hundred and ninety-two young adults (51.6% men; Mage = 20.73) completed the study, resulting in 11,257 assessments conducted on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings for 5 consecutive weeks. RESULTS: While no overall attentional bias for alcohol-related pictures was found, young adults showed an approach bias for both social and nonsocial alcohol-related pictures. Multilevel models revealed no direct association between cognitive biases for alcohol-related pictures and alcohol use. However, higher levels of attentional bias for SA pictures were associated with more drinking when individuals were surrounded by a greater number of friends of opposite gender. Higher levels of an approach bias for SA pictures were associated with more drinking in women surrounded by a greater number of friends of the same gender. CONCLUSIONS: In a nondependent sample, cognitive biases for SA pictures could not be associated with drinking directly. However, a cognitive bias for SA pictures moderated the association between alcohol use and number of friends present. As most observed effects were gender and situation specific, replication of these effects is warranted.
BACKGROUND:Alcohol use occurs mainly among friends, in social contexts, and for social reasons. Moreover, cognitive biases, such as attentional and approach biases, have repeatedly been associated with alcohol use. This study aimed to test whether nondependent drinkers display cognitive biases for social alcohol-related (SA) pictures and whether these biases are associated with alcohol use in social drinking contexts. METHODS: The visual dot probe task and stimulus-response compatibility tasks were used to measure attentional and approach biases for alcohol-related pictures at baseline. Event-level alcohol use was measured using Ecological Momentary Assessments via personal smartphones. One hundred and ninety-two young adults (51.6% men; Mage = 20.73) completed the study, resulting in 11,257 assessments conducted on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings for 5 consecutive weeks. RESULTS: While no overall attentional bias for alcohol-related pictures was found, young adults showed an approach bias for both social and nonsocial alcohol-related pictures. Multilevel models revealed no direct association between cognitive biases for alcohol-related pictures and alcohol use. However, higher levels of attentional bias for SA pictures were associated with more drinking when individuals were surrounded by a greater number of friends of opposite gender. Higher levels of an approach bias for SA pictures were associated with more drinking in women surrounded by a greater number of friends of the same gender. CONCLUSIONS: In a nondependent sample, cognitive biases for SA pictures could not be associated with drinking directly. However, a cognitive bias for SA pictures moderated the association between alcohol use and number of friends present. As most observed effects were gender and situation specific, replication of these effects is warranted.
Authors: Jorge S Martins; Bruce D Bartholow; M Lynne Cooper; Kelsey M Irvin; Thomas M Piasecki Journal: Alcohol Clin Exp Res Date: 2019-07-18 Impact factor: 3.455
Authors: Esther Aarts; Agnes Akkerman; Mareike Altgassen; Ronald Bartels; Becky Beckers; Kirsten Bevelander; Erik Bijleveld; Esmeralda Blaney Davidson; Annemarie Boleij; Janita Bralten; Toon Cillessen; Jurgen Claassen; Roshan Cools; Ineke Cornelissen; Martin Dresler; Thijs Eijsvogels; Myrthe Faber; Guillén Fernández; Bernd Figner; Matthias Fritsche; Sascha Füllbrunn; Surya Gayet; Marleen M. H. J. van Gelder; Marcel van Gerven; Sabine Geurts; Corina U. Greven; Martine Groefsema; Koen Haak; Peter Hagoort; Yvonne Hartman; Beatrice van der Heijden; Erno Hermans; Vivian Heuvelmans; Florian Hintz; Janet den Hollander; Anneloes M. Hulsman; Sebastian Idesis; Martin Jaeger; Esther Janse; Joost Janzing; Roy P. C. Kessels; Johan C. Karremans; Willemien de Kleijn; Marieke Klein; Floris Klumpers; Nils Kohn; Hubert Korzilius; Bas Krahmer; Floris de Lange; Judith van Leeuwen; Huaiyu Liu; Maartje Luijten; Peggy Manders; Katerina Manevska; José P. Marques; Jon Matthews; James M. McQueen; Pieter Medendorp; René Melis; Antje Meyer; Joukje Oosterman; Lucy Overbeek; Marius Peelen; Jean Popma; Geert Postma; Karin Roelofs; Yvonne G. T. van Rossenberg; Gabi Schaap; Paul Scheepers; Luc Selen; Marianne Starren; Dorine W. Swinkels; Indira Tendolkar; Dick Thijssen; Hans Timmerman; Rayyan Tutunji; Anil Tuladhar; Harm Veling; Maaike Verhagen; Jasper Verkroost; Jacqueline Vink; Vivian Vriezekolk; Janna Vrijsen; Jana Vyrastekova; Selina van der Wal; Roel Willems; Arthur Willemsen Journal: PLoS One Date: 2021-12-29 Impact factor: 3.240