Binge Drinking
Conditions
Keywords
Alcohol Consumption, Baroreflex, Arousal, Breathing, Cardiovascular System, Cognition, Electrophysiology, Event-Related Potentials, Heavy Drinking, Attention, Individual Differences, Alcohol Cue, Brief Intervention, Cognitive Control, Cue Reactivity, Drinking Behavior, Young Adult, Heart Rate Variability
Brief summary
Conscious attempts to regulate alcohol use are often undermined by automatic attention and arousal processes activated by alcohol cues, as well as by diminished ability to inhibit in-the-moment behaviors. The current study will examine whether a brief behavioral intervention of slow breathing paced at a resonance frequency of the cardiovascular system can interrupt automatic alcohol cue reactivity and enhance cognitive control in binge drinkers. Results from the proposed study may provide new prevention and intervention targets to interrupt unhealthy drinking behaviors.
Interventions
BEHAVIORALResonance breathing
Participants will synchronize their breathing with a visual pacer (E-Z Air, Thought Technology, Ltd., Plattsburgh, NY) that moves up (inhale) and down (exhale) at the rate of 0.1 Hz (6 breaths per min)
BEHAVIORALLow demand cognitive task
Different colored rectangles are presented for 10 sec each, and participants are instructed to silently count the number of blue rectangles
Sponsors
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
CROSSOVER
Primary purpose
BASIC_SCIENCE
Masking
NONE
Intervention model description
Subjects will complete an active treatment of slow resonance paced breathing and a control visual color block task on separate days, separated by approximately one week
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to 35 Years
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
* Must report at least 2 binge drinking episodes in the past month * Have normal or corrected-to-normal vision
Exclusion criteria
* History or presence of serious psychiatric disorders, neurological disorders, or head injury resulting in a loss of consciousness * Presence of any serious medical condition * Report of more than a few occasions (3-4) of illicit drug use, except for cannabis, in the preceding year
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| N2 ERP amplitude (in microvolts) elicited from an Alcohol Cued Go/No-Go task | Immediate; Difference between the active resonance breathing compared to the low demand cognitive task occurring one week apart | The N2 component (in microvolts) of the event-related potential occurring 250-350 ms after stimulus presentation at frontal and central electrode sites during an Alcohol Cued Go/No-Go task following a 5-minute course of resonance breathing compared to a low-demand control task |
| N2pc ERP amplitude (in microvolts) elicited from a visual dot probe detection task | Immediate; Difference between the active resonance breathing compared to the low demand cognitive task occurring one week apart | The N2pc component of the event-related potential occurring 200-275 ms after stimulus presentation at parietal and occipital electrode sites (ipsilateral minus contralateral hemisphere activity) during a modified visual dot probe detection task following a 5-minute course of resonance breathing compared to a low-demand control task |
| P3b ERP amplitude (in microvolts) elicited from a picture-viewing task | Immediate; Difference between the active resonance breathing compared to the low demand cognitive task occurring one week apart | The P3b component of the event-related potential occurring 300-600 ms after stimulus presentation at central and parietal electrode sites during a picture viewing task following a 5-minute course of resonance breathing compared to a low-demand control task |
| N2 ERP latency (in milliseconds) elicited from an Alcohol Cued Go/No-Go task | Immediate; Difference between the active resonance breathing compared to the low demand cognitive task occurring one week apart | The latency of the N2 component of the event-related potential from frontal and central electrode sites during a picture viewing task following a 5-minute course of resonance breathing compared to a low-demand control task. Latency will be determined using 50% area latency from a difference wave between task conditions |
| N2pc ERP latency (in milliseconds) elicited from a visual dot probe detection task | Immediate; Difference between the active resonance breathing compared to the low demand cognitive task occurring one week apart | The latency of the N2pc component of the event-related potential from parietal and occipital electrode sites during a visual dot probe detection task following a 5-minute course of resonance breathing compared to a low-demand control task. Latency will be determined using 50% area latency from a difference wave between task conditions |
| P3b ERP latency (in milliseconds) elicited from a picture-viewing task | Immediate; Difference between the active resonance breathing compared to the low demand cognitive task occurring one week apart | The latency of the P3b component of the event-related potential from central and parietal electrode sites during a picture viewing task following a 5-minute course of resonance breathing compared to a low-demand control task. Latency will be determined using 50% area latency from a difference wave between task conditions |
| Task accuracy from the behavioral response during the Alcohol Cued Go/No-Go task | Immediate; Difference between the active resonance breathing compared to the low demand cognitive task occurring one week apart | Task accuracy as a percentage of correct behavioral responses to the task during the Alcohol Cued Go/No-Go ERP task following a 5-minute course of resonance breathing compared to a low-demand control task |
| Reaction time from the behavioral response during the Alcohol Cued Go/No-Go task | Immediate; Difference between the active resonance breathing compared to the low demand cognitive task occurring one week apart | Reaction time for the correct behavioral responses to the task measured in milliseconds during the Alcohol Cued Go/No-Go ERP task following a 5-minute course of resonance breathing compared to a low-demand control task |
| Task accuracy from the behavioral response during the visual dot probe detection task | Immediate; Difference between the active resonance breathing compared to the low demand cognitive task occurring one week apart | Task accuracy as a percentage of correct behavioral responses to the task during the visual dot probe detection task following a 5-minute course of resonance breathing compared to a low-demand control task |
| Reaction time from the behavioral response during the visual dot probe detection task | Immediate; Difference between the active resonance breathing compared to the low demand cognitive task occurring one week apart | Reaction time for the correct behavioral responses to the task measured in milliseconds during the visual dot probe ERP task following a 5-minute course of resonance breathing compared to a low-demand control task |
Countries
United States
Contacts
PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATORBrandon L Alderman, Ph.D.
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATORMarsha E Bates, Ph.D.
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
Outcome results
None listed