Cognitive control deficits in alcoholism risk

急性酒精中毒经常导致各种形式的失调反应，包括 攻击性，性和其他冒险，情绪反应的改变，甚至明显的临时性的 对酒精使用本身失去控制。许多例子中酒精中毒导致了这些 失控反应的特征是强烈但不适当的反应之间的冲突 更适应但更弱的倾向和不相容的替代反应。同样，酒精也是如此 依赖使用者经常经历冲突或矛盾情绪，围绕他们的酒精使用和初步 有证据表明，他们的注意力功能可能受损，而注意力功能是适应性所必需的。 解决围绕他们饮酒的冲突。事实上，许多理论家推测，同样的 解释酒精挑战的急性影响的注意机制也可能是慢性的 有物质使用和其他外化障碍的个体受损。此外，注意力受损 可能代表了一种发病前的病因风险机制，这是饮酒风险增加的原因 有酗酒家族史的个人的精神障碍。这项研究的目的是证实和 阐明酒精挑战的性质和酒精中毒家族史对注意功能和 检查潜在损害对行为和情绪反应的调节作用的后果。 最新的理论和基础认知神经科学研究已经显著地进步和完善， 对注意过程和必要的潜在神经生物学结构的理解 对冲突中的行为和情绪反应进行适应性调节。这项基础研究已经 所识别的注意力系统的离散功能，包括保持警觉状态、感觉 定向和执行控制功能，负责控制认知操作。特别是， 执行控制注意力(和子组成部分；评估和调节控制)是要克服的关键 在环境方面不适应、强烈和/或习惯性反应。这一理论和研究提供了 醉酒和家族史阳性者注意功能研究的基础 个人。拟议的五个实验将使用电生理测量(例如，与事件相关的大脑 潜力)和经过充分验证的认知范式，旨在系统地索引离散组件 注意功能。这将允许调解测试来确定预测的酒精挑战和家庭 酗酒史对行为和情绪调节的影响是注意力功能受损的结果。

Acute alcohol intoxication frequently results in various forms of dysregulated responding including aggression, sexual and other risk taking, alterations in emotional response, and even apparent temporary loss of control over alcohol use itself. Many examples in which alcohol intoxication results in these dysregulated responses are characterized by conflict between strong, but inappropriate, response tendencies and incompatible alternative responses that are more adaptive yet weaker. Similarly, alcohol dependent users frequently experience conflict or ambivalence surrounding their alcohol use and preliminary evidence suggests that they may be impaired in the attention functions that are necessary to adaptively resolve conflict surrounding their alcohol use. In fact, many theorists have speculated that the same attention mechanisms that account for the acute effects of alcohol challenge may also be chronically impaired in individuals with substance use and other externalizing disorders. Moreover, impaired attention may represent a premorbid etiological risk mechanism which accounts for the increased risk for alcohol use disorders among individuals with a family history of alcoholism. The aim of this research is to confirm and clarify the nature of alcohol challenge and alcoholism family history effects on attention function and to examine the consequences of potential impairment for the regulation of behavior and emotion responding. Recent theory andbasic cognitive neuroscience research hassignificantly advanced andrefined , understanding about the attention processes and underlying neurobiological structures that are necessary for the adaptive regulation of behavior and emotional response during conflict. This basic research has identified discrete functions of the attention system including maintenance of an alert state, sensory orienting, and executive control function responsible for the control of cognitive operations. In particular, executive control attention (and sub-components; evaluative and regulative control) are crucial to overcome contextually maladaptive, strong and/or habitual responding. This theory and research provides the foundation for the proposed research on attention function in intoxicated and family history positive individuals. The five proposed experiments will use electro-physiological measures (e.g., event related brain potentials) and well-validated cognitive paradigms designed to systematically index discrete components of attention function. This will allow mediation tests to determine if predicted alcohol challenge and family history of alcoholism effects on behavior and emotion regulation are the result of impaired attention function.