Novel Mechanisms of Behavior Change in Alcoholism Treatment

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Current treatments for alcohol use disorders vary in theoretical foundation and approach, yet are often equally effective across clients who differ substantially in clinical features. Limited progress in client treatment matching, based on our current understanding of mechanisms of behavior change (MOBC), argues strongly for basic to clinical science translation research to provide innovation (Willenbring, 2005). Better understanding of mechanisms that support behavioral flexibility is essential for progress in developing more effective treatments. It would facilitate client-treatment matching by helping to classify clients with different underlying capacities for behavior change, clarify fundamental change processes ctivated by current treatments, and suggest potentially new treatment targets. This K02 competitive renewal application seeks to build upon the knowledge, research skills, and quantitative training the applicant gained during the previous award period to further understand neurobiological and neurocognitive processes that subserve emotional regulation and can act to support or hinder adaptive behavioral change. The overarching goal is to gain expertise in methods that promote translation between basic and clinical science to characterize novel MOBC. Structured, multidisciplinary collaborative expertise and new quantitative skills will be applied to data from the applicant's ongoing research program. NIAAA supported experiments focus on alcohol and placebo challenge effects on implicit memory for, and autonomic nervous system reactivity to, neutral, emotionally valenced and alcohol-related cues in young adult drinkers who are not alcohol dependent. The NIDA supported study focuses on memory and reactivity to the same stimuli, and to drug-related cues, in clinical and high risk samples, and examines the relation of implicit memory and autonomic regulatory processes to intervention outcomes. Skills will also be applied to data from pilot fMRI and genetic studies that recruit participants from these NIH projects to characterize cognitive control processes that operate in bidirectional feedback loops with autonomic reactivity during cue exposure and memory tasks, and test for genetic markers of intermediary phenotypes related to regulatory processes. Support of this application will allow the PI to cross-fertilize theories and methods needed to conduct productive translation research to improve understanding of MOBC in alcoholism treatment, and maximize her contributions to the field.