Trial reportSubstance abuse treatment, prevention, and policy2019
Combining approach bias modification with working memory training during inpatient alcohol withdrawal: an open-label pilot trial of feasibility and acceptability.
Trial report in Substance abuse treatment, prevention, and policy, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.
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The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed.
- A Personalized Approach Bias Modification Smartphone App ("SWiPE") to Reduce Alcohol Use: Open-Label Feasibility, Acceptability, and Preliminary Effectiveness Study.JMIR mHealth and uHealth · 2021Trial
- Approach-Bias Retraining and Other Training Interventions as Add-On in the Treatment of AUD Patients.Current topics in behavioral neurosciences · 2025Review
- The impact of memory training on abstinence among individuals with alcohol use disorder.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Article
- Challenges When Evaluating Cognitive Bias Modification Interventions for Substance Use Disorder.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2020Article
- Personalized Approach Bias Modification Smartphone App ("SWIPE") to Reduce Alcohol Use Among People Drinking at Hazardous or Harmful Levels: Protocol for an Open-Label Feasibility Study.JMIR research protocols · 2020Article
- Emotional Bias Modification in Youths with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD): New Research Vista.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2020Article
- Cognition and addiction .Dialogues in clinical neuroscience · 2019Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundAccording to contemporary neurocognitive models, addiction is maintained by the biasing of information-processing and decision-making systems towards relatively automatic, impulsive, reward-seeking responses to drug-related stimuli, and away from more controlled, deliberative, "reflective" states of processing that could result in decisions to delay or avoid drug use. Cognitive training programs aimed at either countering "impulsive" processing or enhancing "reflective" processing alone have shown promise. However, there has been no attempt to simultaneously target both aspects of processing with a combined training program. We aimed to test the feasibility and acceptability of a novel 'dual-training' program targeting both processes during residential alcohol withdrawal, and to measure abstinence rates following discharge.
methodsThirty-seven patients undergoing alcohol withdrawal at a residential unit participated in this open-label pilot feasibility study. We tested a 4-session program of dual cognitive training targeting both impulsive (approach bias) and reflective (working memory) aspects of processing. Descriptive statistics were used to examine feasibility (training uptake and completion rates) and acceptability (withdrawal from the study; participants' ratings of the tasks). Alcohol abstinence rates were examined 2-weeks post-discharge.
resultsSeven participants withdrew after commencing training. Twenty-six (70%) completed the 4-session training protocol, and four completed 3 sessions before discharging. Among participants who provided ratings, nearly all (93%) rated the training as interesting. Most (87%) indicated that they felt it had improved their attention. However, most did not feel it had decreased their craving for alcohol. At 2-weeks post-discharge, 16 (53%) participants reported abstaining from alcohol. For comparison, an earlier pilot trial in the same setting found a 68% abstinence rate with approach bias training alone, and 47% abstinence in a non-training control group.
conclusionsDual training during residential alcohol detoxification appears to be both acceptable and feasible, suggesting that future research is warranted to test its effectiveness at reducing likelihood of relapse.
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