Behavioral Dysregulation and Alcohol Sensitivity in Risky Drivers

描述(由申请人提供)：与酒精有关的交通伤亡仍然是一个主要的公共卫生问题，促使需要进行研究，以确定酒后驾车司机的特征，以努力改善治疗和预防。尽管酒后驾车罪犯报告了冲动的特征，这表明抑制控制能力差，奖励敏感性高，但这种行为失调背后的特定认知特征尚未在实验室中进行系统研究。这一应用的最重要的假设是，缺乏抑制控制和对酒精解除抑制作用的敏感性增加导致酒后驾车的风险，并可能导致其复发。拟议的项目从认知功能障碍的角度看待酒后驾车犯罪者，目标是特定行为调节机制的缺陷。这项研究将直接评估累犯酒后驾车罪犯的驾驶表现和自我调节机制(例如，抑制控制、追求奖励)，并将检验假设，即这些高风险司机对酒精的反应不同，具有更多的去抑制和冒险行为，这些因素有助于他们做出酒后驾车的决定。该应用程序代表了最先进的评估和技术的创新应用，以确定危险驾驶行为背后的特定神经认知特征，这些特征可能成为治疗和预防的候选机制。该项目旨在与最近的NIH资助机会公告(PA-10-255)、酒精依赖的行为调节机制和相关表型很好地吻合，旨在促进酒精对冲动控制所涉及的神经认知机制的影响的研究。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Alcohol-related traffic fatality and injury continue to be a major public health problem, prompting the need for research aimed at identifying characteristics of DUI drivers in efforts to improve treatment and prevention. Although DUI offenders report traits of impulsivity, suggesting poor inhibitory control and heightened reward sensitivity, the specific cognitive characteristics underlying such behavioral dysregulation have not been systematically studied in the laboratory. The over-arching hypothesis of this application is that deficient inhibitory control and increased sensitivity to the disinhibiting effects of alcool contribute to the risk of DUI, and possibly to its recidivism. The proposed project views DUI offenders from a cognitive dysfunction perspective that targets deficits in specific mechanisms of behavioral regulation. The research will directly evaluate driving performance and mechanisms of self-regulation (e.g., inhibitory control, reward-seeking) in recidivist DUI offenders and will test hypotheses that these high-risk drivers respond differently to alcohol, wit increased disinhibition and risk-taking, and that these factors contribute to their decisions to drive after drinking. The application represents an innovative application of state-of-the-art assessments and techniques to identify the specific neurocognitive characteristics that underlie risky driving behavior, and which could be candidate mechanisms for treatment and prevention. The project aims fit well with the recent NIH Funding Opportunity Announcement (PA-10-255), Behavioral Regulation Mechanisms of Alcohol Dependence and Related Phenotypes aimed at promoting research on the effects of alcohol on neurocognitive mechanisms implicated in impulse control.