Validación de un test para determinar el sesgo atencional en pacientes dependientes de alcohol

• Published in: Anales de psicología (Murcia, Spain) Vol. 31; no. 2; p. 504
• Main Authors: Sanchez-Lopez, Alvaro, Quinto-Guillen, Rafael, Pérez-Lucas, Josefa, Jurado-Barba, Rosa, Martínez-Grass, Isabel, Ponce-Alfaro, Guillermo, Rubio-Valladolid, Gabriel
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 25.04.2015
• ISSN: 0212-9728; 1695-2294
• DOI: 10.6018/analesps.31.2.169491

Attention bias for alcohol has proved useful to distinguish people with a pathological consumption of people who do not, and dependents who are more likely to fall in consumption. The aim of this study was to validate the Spanish version of the Alcohol Stroop test, designed to evaluate attention biases for alcohol in alcohol-dependent patients. The sample was composed by 173 participants divided into 2 groups: 1) “Patients” (n = 88) meeting criteria for alcohol dependence; and 2) “Control” (n = 85) having a low risk for alcohol consumption, that completed the Stroop color naming Task (Classic Stroop), the Neutral Stroop test and the alcohol Stroop test. Statistically significant differences were found in the interference effects calculated for the Classic and Alcohol Stroop tests. Patients compared to control participants showed a higher interference effect for alcohol-related stimuli than for neutral stimuli. These effects were accounted by an attention bias for alcohol-related information in patients. ROC curves were calculated for the three interference effects, showing an area under the curve statistically significant in the Classic Stroop interference and the Alcohol Stroop interference. This study provides the validation of the Spanish version of the Alcohol Stroop test that allows to evaluate attention biases for alcohol stimuli in individuals with both pathologic alcohol consumption and alcohol dependence.