Trial reportAlcoholism, clinical and experimental research2018
A Test of Multisession Automatic Action Tendency Retraining to Reduce Alcohol Consumption Among Young Adults in the Context of a Human Laboratory Paradigm.
Trial report in Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Alcohol-Specific Computerized Interventions to Alter Cognitive Biases: A Systematic Review of Effects on Experimental Tasks, Drinking Behavior, and Neuronal Activation.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2019Pooled it
- Is a very brief web-based intervention with focus on protective behavioral strategies efficacious in reducing impaired control over alcohol in undergraduates?Experimental and clinical psychopharmacology · 2025Trial
- A combined laboratory and field test of a smartphone breath alcohol device and blood alcohol concentration estimator to facilitate moderate drinking among young adults.Psychology of addictive behaviors : journal of the Society of Psychologists in Addictive Behaviors · 2022Trial
- Effects of a Smartphone-Based Approach-Avoidance Intervention on Chocolate Craving and Consumption: Randomized Controlled Trial.JMIR mHealth and uHealth · 2019Trial
- Explicit Attitudes, Working Memory Capacity, and Driving After Drinking.Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research · 2018Trial
- Impaired Control (Both Attempts to Control Drinking and Failed Control) as Prospective Predictors of Negative Outcomes Among Young Adults Who Drink Heavily.Journal of studies on alcohol and drugs · 2024Article
- Initial evidence of delay discounting's predictive utility for alcohol self-administration in ecologically valid contexts among young adults who drink heavily.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2024Article
- Measuring approach-avoidance tendencies towards food with touchscreen-based arm movements.Psychological research · 2020Article
- Event-related and readiness potentials when preparing to approach and avoid alcohol cues following cue avoidance training in heavy drinkers.Psychopharmacology · 2020Article
- Evidence for incentive salience sensitization as a pathway to alcohol use disorder.Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews · 2019Review
- Harnessing centred identity transformation to reduce executive function burden for maintenance of health behaviour change: the Maintain IT model.Health psychology review · 2018Review
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8 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundYoung adult heavy drinking is an important public health concern. Current interventions have efficacy but with only modest effects, and thus, novel interventions are needed. In prior studies, heavy drinkers, including young adults, have demonstrated stronger automatically triggered approach tendencies to alcohol-related stimuli than lighter drinkers. Automatic action tendency retraining has been developed to correct this tendency and consequently reduce alcohol consumption. This study is the first to test multiple iterations of automatic action tendency retraining, followed by laboratory alcohol self-administration.
methodsA total of 72 nontreatment-seeking, heavy drinking young adults ages 21 to 25 were randomized to automatic action tendency retraining or a control condition (i.e., "sham training"). Of these, 69 (54% male) completed 4 iterations of retraining or the control condition over 5 days with an alcohol drinking session on Day 5. Self-administration was conducted according to a human laboratory paradigm designed to model individual differences in impaired control (i.e., difficulty adhering to limits on alcohol consumption).
resultsAutomatic action tendency retraining was not associated with greater reduction in alcohol approach tendency or less alcohol self-administration than the control condition. The laboratory paradigm was probably sufficiently sensitive to detect an effect of an experimental manipulation given the range of self-administration behavior observed, both in terms of number of alcoholic and nonalcoholic drinks and measures of drinking topography.
conclusionsAutomatic action tendency retraining was ineffective among heavy drinking young adults without motivation to change their drinking. Details of the retraining procedure may have contributed to the lack of a significant effect. Despite null primary findings, the impaired control laboratory paradigm is a valid laboratory-based measure of young adult alcohol consumption that provides the opportunity to observe drinking topography and self-administration of nonalcoholic beverages (i.e., protective behavioral strategies directly related to alcohol use).
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