Dr Matt Field

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Boozy brains? Alcohol use in adolescents
Dr Matt Field School of Psychology University of
Liverpool
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Rising rates of alcohol consumption in adolescents
Source Institute of Alcohol Studies, 2007
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Those that drink, are drinking more
Source NHS, 2007 11-15 year olds
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Immediate consequences
Source NHS, 2006 11-15 year olds
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Today

• Thinking processes (cognitions) that are
  associated with alcohol use in adults and young
  people
• Implicit cognition
• Impulsivity
• Cognitions as cause or consequence, or both?
• Experimental research cognitions that change as
  a consequence of alcohol use
• Cognitions that can cause alcohol use
• Why is this particularly relevant to heavy
  drinking in youth?

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Source Addiction, 2007, vol 102, p579-586.
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Implicit cognition substance-related stimuli
grab the attention in addiction
Source Ingmar Franken, Erasmus University
Rotterdam, The Netherlands
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The modified Stroop task

• sofa
• table
• bed
• chair
• cupboard
• desk

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The modified Stroop task

• beer
• vodka
• gin
• lager
• cider
• whisky

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Adolescent heavy drinkers find the alcohol words
more difficult
Source Addiction, 2007, vol 102, p579-586.
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Is this attentional bias a cause or a
consequence of heavy drinking?

• Classical conditioning?

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Pavlovs dogs
Source www.howstuffworks.com
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Conditioning in humans
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Can humans be conditioned to alcohol?
CS Contains alcohol (taste
disguised) FOUR PAIRINGS
CS- Contains placebo (taste disguised) FOUR
PAIRINGS
Source Psychopharmacology (2002), vol 159,
p335-324
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Measurement of eye movements
Source Psychopharmacology (2002), vol 159,
p335-324
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An alcohol paired cue can grab the attention
after only four pairings
Source Psychopharmacology (2002), vol 159,
p335-324
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This was after only four pairings after
extensive experience with alcohol, your reaction
to alcohol cues may be more like this
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• Can attentional bias influence how much we drink?

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Using the dot probe task to increase
attentional bias
.
Press a button AS SOON AS YOU SEE THE DOT!
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Using the dot probe task to reduce attentional
bias
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Press a button AS SOON AS YOU SEE THE DOT!
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attentional bias can influence beer consumption
Source Psychopharmacology (2005), vol. 183,
p350-357.
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Summary attentional bias (a component of
implicit cognition)

• gt Can be caused by classical conditioning
  (experience of pairings between alcohol and
  environmental stimuli)
• gt Can be a cause of alcohol consumption (and also
  self-reported alcohol craving)

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Impulsivity

• We can define impulsivity in many ways
• The desire for immediate gratification, even if
  this carries longer-term costs (CLICK)
• Difficulty withholding inappropriate responses
  (earlier talk)
• Taking inappropriate risks
• All aspects of impulsivity are ASSOCIATED with
  heavy drinking in adults and older adolescents
• Causality again are impulsive people more likely
  to drink, or does alcohol make people act more
  impulsively?

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So impulsive people are more likely to develop
alcohol problems?

• Yes, probably.
• But people also behave more impulsively when
  intoxicated
• There is some evidence that long-term heavy
  drinking might produce long-lasting increases in
  impulsivity

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IMPULSIVITY
HEAVY DRINKING
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Why is this relevant to alcohol use during
adolescence?

• Attentional bias and impulsivity are thought to
  be related to the function of the prefrontal
  cortex.

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Maturation of the brain, ages 5-20
Prefrontal cortex
Source Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences of the USA (2004), vol. 101, p8174
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Alcohol-induced prefrontal cortex damage is
greater during adolescence
Source Alcoholism Clinical and Experimental
Research, 2000 (vol 24, p1712) and 2005 (vol 29,
p207)
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WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN?
IMPULSIVITY
HEAVY DRINKING DURING ADOLESCENCE
LONG-TERM CHANGES IN BRAIN FUNCTION
INCREASED IMPULSIVITY AND ALTERED IMPLICIT
COGNITION
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Acknowledgements

• People Paul Christiansen, Jon Cole, Brian
  Eastwood, Gordon Fernie, Andrew Goudie
  (University of Liverpool) Theodora Duka
  (University of Sussex)
• Research funding