A dissociation in attentional control: Evidence from methamphetamine dependence

• Published in: Biological psychiatry (1969) Vol. 57; no. 3; pp. 310 - 313
• Main Authors: Salo, Ruth, Nordahl, Thomas E., Moore, Charles, Waters, Christy, Natsuaki, Yutaka, Galloway, Gantt P., Kile, Shawn, Sullivan, Edith V.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY Elsevier Inc 01.02.2005; Elsevier Science
• Subjects: Activity levels. Psychomotricity; Adult; Analysis of Variance; Attention - physiology; Biological and medical sciences; cognition; Cognition. Intelligence; Discrimination Learning - physiology; Dissociative Disorders - physiopathology; Female; frontostriatal; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Humans; Inhibition (Psychology); Male; Methamphetamine; Methamphetamine - adverse effects; Middle Aged; Neuropsychological Tests - statistics & numerical data; Photic Stimulation - methods; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Psychomotor Performance - physiology; Reaction Time - physiology; Reasoning. Problem solving; selective attention; stimulant abuse; Substance-Related Disorders - physiopathology; Task Performance and Analysis; task switching; Vigilance. Attention. Sleep; frontostriatal; stimulant abuse; cognition; selective attention; task switching; Methamphetamine; Amphetamine derivatives; Human; Vigilance; CNS stimulant; Psychotropic; Central nervous system; Metamfetamine; Cognition; Basal ganglion; Corpus striatum; Sympathomimetic; Frontal cortex; Naming; Experimental study; Encephalon; Selective attention; Information processing; Task switching; Inhibition
• ISSN: 0006-3223; 1873-2402
• DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2004.10.035

Selective attention comprises multiple, dissociable component processes, including task shifting and selective inhibition. The goal of this study was to test whether task-shifting, selective inhibition, or both processes were impaired in long-term but currently abstinent methamphetamine-dependent individuals. Participants were 34 methamphetamine-dependent subjects and 20 nonsubstance abusing controls who were tested on an alternating-runs switch task with conflict sequences that required subjects to switch tasks on every second trial (AABBAABB). Methamphetamine-dependent individuals committed more errors on trials that required inhibition of distracting information compared with controls (methamphetamine = 17%; controls = 13%; p = .02). By contrast, error rates did not differ between the groups on switch trials (methamphetamine = 7%; controls = 6%; p = .68). These results indicate that selective inhibition, but not task switching, is selectively compromised by methamphetamine.