A pilot investigation of acute inhibitory control training in cocaine users

Abstract

Background: Disrupted response inhibition and presence of drug-cue attentional bias in cocaine-using individuals have predicted poor treatment outcomes. Inhibitory control training could help improve treatment outcomes by strengthening cognitive control. This pilot study assessed the effects of acute inhibitory control training to drug- and non-drug-related cues on response inhibition performance and cocaine-cue attentional bias in cocaine-using individuals.

Methods: Participants who met criteria for a cocaine-use disorder underwent five sessions of inhibitory control training to either non-drug-related cues (i.e., rectangles) or cocaine cues (n=10/condition) in a single day. Response inhibition and attentional bias were assessed prior to and following training using the stop-signal task and visual-probe task with eye tracking, respectively.

Results: Training condition groups did not differ on demographics, inhibitory control training performance, response inhibition, or cocaine-cue attentional bias. Response inhibition performance improved as a function of inhibitory control training in both conditions. Cocaine-cue attentional bias was observed, but did not change as a function of inhibitory control training in either condition.

Conclusions: Response inhibition in cocaine-using individuals was augmented by acute inhibitory control training, which may improve treatment outcomes through better behavioral inhibition. Future studies should investigate longer-term implementation of inhibitory control training, as well as combining inhibitory control training with other treatment modalities.

Keywords: Attentional bias; Cocaine-use disorders; Inhibitory control training; Response inhibition.

Figure 1

Panel 1A: Mean proportion of inhibitory failures (+SEM) during stop trials on the stop-signal task as a function of inhibitory control training to cocaine-cues (n = 10) and rectangles (n = 10). Proportion of inhibitory failures means are shown for pre-training (left two bars) and post-training (right two bars). Reduced proportion of inhibitory failures represents improved performance. Panel 1B: Mean SSRT (+SEM) to the stop-signal on the stop-signal task as a function of inhibitory control training to cocaine-cues (n = 10) and rectangles (n = 10). Mean SSRTs are shown for pre-training (left two bars) and post-training (right two bars). Lower SSRT represents faster executive control of inhibiting erroneous impulsive responses. Panel 1C: Mean gaze time (ms; +SEM) from the visual-probe task as a function of inhibitory control training to cocaine-cues (n = 9) and rectangles (n = 8). Mean gaze times are shown for pre-training (left four bars) and post-training (right four bars). Attentional bias toward cocaine cues is shown by greater mean gaze time to cocaine cues than to neutral cues. * = significant main effect of time-point (p < 0.05)