Department of Psychiatry, Bakirkoy Research and Training Hospital for Psychiatry, Neurology and Neurosurgery, Istanbul, Turkey.
Alcohol Clin Exp Res. 2010 Dec;34(12):2162-8. doi: 10.1111/j.1530-0277.2010.01313.x. Epub 2010 Sep 7.
Alcohol use has been previously associated with neurocognitive impairments, especially in decision-making cognition. However, some studies have shown little to no decision-making deficits in relation to different characteristics of people with drinking problems. Relapsing to driving under the influence (DUI) of alcohol is an important issue with legal and psychosocial aspects. We evaluated decision-making performance in second-time DUI offenders by using the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT).
Thirty-four male second-time DUI offenders who had been selected for an official psychoeducational rehabilitation program and 31 healthy controls that were matched for age, education, and alcohol use were included. Along with psychiatric assessment, we applied conventional neuropsychological testing comprising cognitive set-shifting, response inhibition, attention, and visuospatial abilities. Also, we used the Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI) to assess personality patterns. A computerized version of IGT was used.
No significant differences were found between the groups in regard to sociodemographics and conventional neuropsychological testing. DUI participants had significantly higher scores only in "self-transcendence" subdomain of TCI. On the fifth block of the IGT, DUI participants had significantly lower net scores than controls (U = 380.0, p < 0.05). Also, DUI participants chose significantly more risky decks compared to controls.
Our results suggest that there may be subtle decision-making deficits in DUI participants, which goes undetected on conventional neuropsychological testing and which is not correlated with TCI subdomains related with impulsivity patterns.
酒精使用与神经认知障碍有关，尤其是在决策认知方面。然而，一些研究表明，与不同饮酒问题人群的特征相关，并没有出现明显的决策缺陷。复发性醉酒驾车（DUI）是一个具有法律和心理社会方面重要问题。我们通过使用爱荷华赌博任务（IGT）评估了第二次 DUI 罪犯的决策表现。
我们纳入了 34 名男性第二次 DUI 罪犯，他们已被选为正式的心理教育康复计划，并与 31 名年龄、教育程度和饮酒量相匹配的健康对照者进行匹配。除了进行精神病评估外，我们还进行了常规神经心理学测试，包括认知转换、反应抑制、注意力和视空间能力。此外，我们还使用了气质与性格问卷（TCI）来评估人格模式。使用了计算机化的 IGT 版本。
在社会人口统计学和常规神经心理学测试方面，两组之间没有发现显著差异。DUI 参与者仅在 TCI 的“自我超越”子域中得分明显更高。在 IGT 的第五个区块中，DUI 参与者的净得分明显低于对照组（U = 380.0，p <0.05）。此外，DUI 参与者比对照组选择了明显更多的高风险牌组。
我们的结果表明，DUI 参与者可能存在细微的决策缺陷，这在常规神经心理学测试中无法检测到，并且与与冲动模式相关的 TCI 子域无关。
