Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Multicenter Study
. 2016 Apr;233(8):1487-99.
doi: 10.1007/s00213-016-4245-6. Epub 2016 Feb 25.

Impulsivity in abstinent alcohol and polydrug dependence: a multidimensional approach

Eleanor M Taylor  1 , Anna Murphy  2 , Venkat Boyapati  2 , Karen D Ersche  3   4 , Remy Flechais  5 , Shankar Kuchibatla  2 , John McGonigle  5 , Anotonio Metastasio  2 , Liam Nestor  5   6 , Csaba Orban  5 , Fillippo Passetti  3   4   5 , Louise Paterson  5 , Dana Smith  3   7 , John Suckling  3   4 , Roger Tait  3 , Anne R Lingford-Hughes  5 , Trevor W Robbins  3   7 , David J Nutt  5 , J F William Deakin  2 , Rebecca Elliott  2 ; ICCAM Platform
Affiliations
Multicenter Study

Impulsivity in abstinent alcohol and polydrug dependence: a multidimensional approach

Eleanor M Taylor et al. Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2016 Apr.

Abstract

Rationale: Dependence on drugs and alcohol is associated with impaired impulse control, but deficits are rarely compared across individuals dependent on different substances using several measures within a single study.

Objectives: We investigated impulsivity in abstinent substance-dependent individuals (AbD) using three complementary techniques: self-report, neuropsychological and neuroimaging. We hypothesised that AbDs would show increased impulsivity across modalities, and that this would depend on length of abstinence.

Methods: Data were collected from the ICCAM study: 57 control and 86 AbDs, comprising a group with a history of dependence on alcohol only (n = 27) and a group with history of dependence on multiple substances ("polydrug", n = 59). All participants completed self-report measures of impulsivity: Barratt Impulsiveness Scale, UPPS Impulsive Behaviour Scale, Behaviour Inhibition/Activation System and Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory. They also performed three behavioural tasks: Stop Signal, Intra-Extra Dimensional Set-Shift and Kirby Delay Discounting; and completed a Go/NoGo task during fMRI.

Results: AbDs scored significantly higher than controls on self-report measures, but alcohol and polydrug dependent groups did not differ significantly from each other. Polydrug participants had significantly higher discounting scores than both controls and alcohol participants. There were no group differences on the other behavioural measures or on the fMRI measure.

Conclusions: The results suggest that the current set of self-report measures of impulsivity is more sensitive in abstinent individuals than the behavioural or fMRI measures of neuronal activity. This highlights the importance of developing behavioural measures to assess different, more relevant, aspects of impulsivity alongside corresponding cognitive challenges for fMRI.

Keywords: Addiction; Alcohol; Cognition; Drug Abuse; FMRI.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
An instruction screen from the Go/NoGo task. Participants are asked to respond as quickly as possible to each letter “X” and “Y” that appears on the screen, except when the letter is the same as the one shown previously
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Total scores on self-report measures for alcohol and polydrug AbD groups plotted as their difference from control scores. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Andersen SL, Teicher MH. Desperately driven and no brakes: developmental stress exposure and subsequent risk for substance abuse. Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2009;33(4):516–524. doi: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2008.09.009. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Aron AR, et al. Stop-signal inhibition disrupted by damage to right inferior frontal gyrus in humans. Nat Neurosci. 2003;6(2):115–116. doi: 10.1038/nn1003. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Badiani A, et al. Opiate versus psychostimulant addiction: the differences do matter. Nat Rev Neurosci. 2011;12(11):685–700. doi: 10.1038/nrn3104. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bari A, Robbins TW. Inhibition and impulsivity: behavioral and neural basis of response control. Prog Neurobiol. 2013;108:44–79. doi: 10.1016/j.pneurobio.2013.06.005. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Bell RP, Garavan H, Foxe JJ. Neural correlates of craving and impulsivity in abstinent former cocaine users: towards biomarkers of relapse risk. Neuropharmacology. 2014;85:461–470. doi: 10.1016/j.neuropharm.2014.05.011. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types