A randomized controlled trial of inhibitory control training for the reduction of alcohol consumption in problem drinkers.

Abstract

Objective: We conducted a randomized controlled trial to compare the effects of three types of Internet-delivered Inhibitory Control Training (ICT) with each other and with an active control intervention on alcohol consumption in a community sample of problem drinkers. Method: Two hundred and 46 heavy drinkers, who were motivated to reduce their alcohol consumption (mean age 41.32, 130 female) self-monitored their alcohol consumption for 1 week before being randomized to receive 1 of 3 variants of ICT (Associative No-Go, Associative Stop Signal, General Inhibition) or an active control. Participants then completed up to 14 ICT/control sessions on the Internet over a 4-week period, while regularly recording their alcohol consumption. Results: There were significant reductions in alcohol consumption across all groups over the 4-week training period (main effect of time, F(2, 402) = 77.12, p < .01, ηp2 = .28, BF10 > 99), however there were no differences between ICT groups, or between ICT groups and the active control group (Group × Time interaction, F(6, 402) = 1.10, p = .36, ηp2 = .02, BF10 = 0.03). Contrary to hypotheses, there were no changes in general inhibitory control, the disinhibiting effects of alcohol cues, or alcohol affective associations after ICT. Conclusions: In this study, which attempted to translate findings from proof-of-concept laboratory studies into a viable behavior change intervention, we found that multiple sessions of ICT delivered over the Internet did not help heavy drinkers to reduce their alcohol consumption beyond nonspecific effects associated with taking part in a trial.

Impaired subjective self-control in alcohol use: An ecological momentary assessment study

“…Evidence supporting this idea comes from a meta-analysis that showed significant effects of inhibitory control training on alcohol consumption in the laboratory (Jones et al, 2016). However, results from a recent randomized controlled study outside the laboratory showed that internet delivered inhibitory control training had no specific effects on alcohol consumption in problem drinkers (Jones et al, 2018a). Future research should investigate how to improve inhibitory control training and examine whether this training is an effective intervention to reduce alcohol consumption in the real world.…”

A Roadmap for Integrating Neuroscience Into Addiction Treatment: A Consensus of the Neuroscience Interest Group of the International Society of Addiction Medicine

“…Web and smartphone platforms have been used to administer cognitive-task based interventions, such as cognitive bias modification (CBM) training (59)(60)(61), where cognitive performance is routinely measured as a central element of interventions that span several weeks. The outcomes of these trials show that mobile cognitive-task based interventions are feasible but not efficacious as in a stand-alone context (58,61). However, the combination of cognitive bias modification (approach bias re-training) and normative feedback significantly reduces weekly alcohol consumption in excessive drinkers (59).…”

“…While the benefits of mobile testing to longitudinal research, particularly large-scale clinical trials, appear obvious (57), the rapidity and frequency of deployment also provide opportunities to test questions of much shorter delays between drug use behavior and cognition. For example, recent studies have examined if daily within-individual variability in cognitive performance, principally response inhibition, was associated with variable likelihood for binge alcohol consumption (58). Similarly, influencing the immediate dynamic relationship between cognition and drug use has also been used for intervention purposes.…”

Inhibitory control training improves ADHD symptoms and externalizing behavior

“…An electrophysiological study found that inhibitory control training modulates the inhibitory control-related neural underpinnings in a sample of preschoolers [29]. About the training program, there are several training programs for inhibitory control training [30][31][32]. Even a progressive task in stop-signal paradigm improve inhibitory control [33] Although escalating the di culty of the task is an important factor for cognitive training, the variety of stimuli and tasks paradigms is a crucial factor for transfer of cognitive training gain to untrained domains.…”