Cognitive training in recently-abstinent individuals with alcohol use disorder improves emotional stroop performance: Evidence from a randomized pilot trial

• Published in: Drug and alcohol dependence Vol. 231; p. 109239
• Main Authors: Lewis, Ben, Garcia, Christian C., Price, Julianne L., Schweizer, Susanne, Nixon, Sara Jo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Ireland Elsevier B.V 01.02.2022; Elsevier Science Ltd
• Subjects: Abstinence; Alcohol; Alcohol related disorders; Alcohol use; Alcohol use disorder; Alcoholism; Alcoholism - psychology; Alcoholism - therapy; Clinical trials; Cognition; Cognition Disorders; Cognitive ability; Cognitive skills training; Cognitive tasks; Cognitive therapy; Cognitive training; Computerization; Control tasks; Efficacy; Emotion processing; Emotional intelligence; Emotions; Humans; Inhibitory processes; Memory tasks; Mental task performance; Neurobehavioral functioning; Pilot Projects; Short term memory; Social cognition; Social interactions; Stimuli; Stroop task; Task performance; Tau protein; Training; Treatment; Alcohol; Cognitive training; Cognition; Treatment; Alcohol use disorder; Emotion processing
• ISSN: 0376-8716; 1879-0046
• DOI: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2021.109239

Cognitive training interventions appear capable of improving alcohol-associated neurobehavioral deficits in recently detoxified individuals. However, efficacy remains incompletely characterized in alcohol use disorder (AUD) and available data address only non-affective cognitive outcomes; enhancement of social cognition remains uninvestigated. We utilized a training paradigm in which successfully ignoring emotionally-valent stimuli benefitted task performance. We hypothesized trained individuals would display improvements in an affective inhibitory control task, and that individuals trained with high valence (relative to neutral) stimuli would evince greater improvement. 42 recently detoxified inpatients with AUD were assigned to one of three groups (Emotional Training, Neutral Training, or Treatment as Usual [TAU]). Training consisted of two computerized working memory tasks (dual-modality n-back task; attend/ignore task) which included task-irrelevant stimuli (emotional vs. neutral). Post-training performance efficiency (indexing speed-accuracy tradeoffs) in an emotional Stroop task was the outcome of interest. Significant group by time interactions were detected for emotional Stroop performance, supporting our hypothesis that trained groups would exhibit greater improvement than TAU controls (F[2,39]=8.61, p < .01). Additionally, the emotional training condition appeared to result in greater improvement relative to neutral training (F[1,26]=4.98, p < .01). Results are consistent with current literature suggesting the potential of training to enhance cognitive recovery in early abstinence. Findings inform the development of training protocols, suggesting integration of task-irrelevant distractor stimuli in training may enhance cognitive control outcomes. Further, they expand the relevant domains for application of training approaches, providing novel evidence that among individuals with AUD, training-associated benefits may extend to social cognitive domains. •Cognitive training was employed to accelerate cognitive recovery among individuals with AUD.•Task-irrelevant stimuli were incorporated in working memory training.•Training improved inhibitory control performance in an emotional Stroop task.•Task-irrelevant emotional faces conferred greater advantage than neutral faces.