Behavioral Dysregulation and Alcohol Sensitivity in Risky Drivers

描述（由申请人提供）：与酒精有关的交通死亡和受伤仍然是一个主要的公共卫生问题，促使需要进行研究，旨在确定DUI司机的特点，努力改善治疗和预防。虽然DUI罪犯报告冲动的特点，这表明抑制控制差和奖励敏感性提高，这种行为失调的具体认知特征尚未在实验室中进行系统研究。本申请的过度假设是，抑制控制不足和对酒精的去抑制作用的敏感性增加有助于DUI的风险，并可能导致其累犯。拟议的项目从认知功能障碍的角度来看待DUI罪犯，该角度针对行为调节的特定机制中的缺陷。该研究将直接评估驾驶性能和自我调节机制（例如，抑制控制，奖励寻求）在累犯酒后驾车罪犯，并将测试假设，这些高风险的司机对酒精的反应不同，机智增加去抑制和冒险，这些因素有助于他们的决定酒后驾车。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，这可能是治疗和预防的候选机制。该项目的目标与最近的NIH资助机会公告（PA-10-255），酒精依赖和相关表型的行为调节机制非常吻合，旨在促进酒精对冲动控制中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.