University of Amsterdam, Department of Psychology, Roetersstraat 15, 1018 WB Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Addiction. 2010 Feb;105(2):279-87. doi: 10.1111/j.1360-0443.2009.02775.x.
The main aim of this study was to test whether automatic action-tendencies to approach alcohol can be modified, and whether this affects drinking behaviour.
Forty-two hazardous drinkers were assigned randomly to a condition in which they were implicitly trained to avoid or to approach alcohol, using a training variety of the alcohol Approach Avoidance Test (AAT). Participants pushed or pulled a joystick in response to picture-format (landscape or portrait). The pictures depicted alcoholic or non-alcoholic drinks. Participants in the avoid-alcohol condition pushed most alcoholic and pulled most non-alcoholic drinks. For participants in the approach-alcohol condition these contingencies were reversed. After the implicit training, participants performed a taste test, including beers and soft drinks. Automatic action tendencies at post-test were assessed with the AAT, including both trained and untrained pictures, and with a different test (Implicit Association Test, IAT). We further tested effects on subjective craving.
Action tendencies for alcohol changed in accordance with training condition, with the largest effects in the clinically relevant avoid-alcohol condition. These effects occurred outside subjective awareness and generalized to new pictures in the AAT and to an entirely different test using words, rather than pictures (IAT). In relatively heavy drinking participants who demonstrated changed action tendencies in accordance with their training condition, effects were found on drinking behaviour, with participants in the approach-alcohol condition drinking more alcohol than participants in the avoid-alcohol condition. No effect was found on subjective craving.
Retraining automatic processes may help to regain control over addictive impulses, which points to new treatment possibilities.
本研究的主要目的是检验是否可以改变对酒精的自动趋近倾向，以及这种改变是否会影响饮酒行为。
42 名高危饮酒者被随机分配到一个条件中，通过使用酒精趋近回避测试（AAT）的多种训练方式，他们被隐性地训练回避或接近酒精。参与者通过推或拉操纵杆来对图片格式（横屏或竖屏）做出反应。图片描绘了含酒精或不含酒精的饮料。在回避酒精的条件下，参与者推大多数含酒精的饮料，拉大多数不含酒精的饮料。在接近酒精的条件下，这些关联则相反。在隐性训练之后，参与者进行了味觉测试，包括啤酒和软饮料。在 AAT 中评估了自动行为倾向，包括训练和未训练的图片，以及使用不同测试（内隐联想测验，IAT）。我们进一步测试了对主观渴望的影响。
与训练条件相符的酒精行为倾向发生了变化，在有临床意义的回避酒精条件下变化最大。这些影响发生在主观意识之外，并在 AAT 中的新图片以及使用单词而不是图片的完全不同的测试（IAT）中得到了推广。在根据训练条件改变了行为倾向的相对重度饮酒者中，发现了对饮酒行为的影响，在接近酒精的条件下，参与者的饮酒量多于在回避酒精的条件下。在主观渴望方面没有发现效果。
重新训练自动过程可能有助于重新获得对成瘾冲动的控制，这为新的治疗可能性指明了方向。
