Department of Psychology, Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
J Stud Alcohol Drugs. 2012 Jan;73(1):134-43. doi: 10.15288/jsad.2012.73.134.
Most cognitive models of substance abuse and dependence posit that controlled and automatic processes are central to substance use. Tests of these models rely on methods that are interpreted to measure one or the other of these processes. There has been growing interest in the use of implicit substance use tasks, which are posited to reflect automatic processes. Recent model advancements suggest that behavior is determined by multiple cognitive processes and that dual-process models may provide an overly simplistic account of the cognitive process involved in the assessment of implicit cognition. The goal of the current study was to apply the Quad Model to children's performance on implicit substance use tasks and consider associations with early substance use.
Children (N = 378; 52% girls) ranging from 10 to 12 years old completed alcohol and cigarette Single Category Implicit Association Tests (SC-IATs) and self-reports of substance use.
Four distinct cognitive processes were found to influence SC-IAT performance, one of which reflected automatic activation, the process typically viewed as central to IAT performance. Differences across drinking status revealed weaker automatic activation of negative alcohol associations for those who had (vs. had not) initiated drinking, and a strong likelihood to overcome biased attitudes was supported for all children. The low prevalence of cigarette use in our young sample prohibited examination of the model across smoking status.
Findings suggest that performance on implicit substance use tasks is not process pure. Quantifying and interpreting the multiple influencing processes are crucial for further development and evaluation of cognitive risk models of substance use.
大多数物质滥用和依赖的认知模型假设，受控和自动过程是物质使用的核心。这些模型的测试依赖于被解释为测量这些过程之一或另一个的方法。人们越来越感兴趣地使用内隐物质使用任务，这些任务被认为反映了自动过程。最近的模型进展表明，行为是由多个认知过程决定的，双过程模型可能对评估内隐认知中涉及的认知过程提供了过于简单的解释。本研究的目的是将四模型应用于儿童在内隐物质使用任务上的表现，并考虑与早期物质使用的关联。
年龄在 10 至 12 岁之间的儿童（N=378；52%为女孩）完成了酒精和香烟的单一类别内隐联想测验（SC-IAT）和物质使用的自我报告。
发现有四个不同的认知过程影响 SC-IAT 的表现，其中一个反映了自动激活，这是通常被视为 IAT 表现核心的过程。在不同的饮酒状态下，发现已经开始饮酒的人对负面酒精联想的自动激活较弱，而所有儿童都支持强烈的克服偏见态度的可能性。我们的年轻样本中吸烟的低流行率禁止了在吸烟状态下对模型进行检查。
研究结果表明，内隐物质使用任务的表现不是纯过程的。对内隐物质使用任务中多个影响过程进行量化和解释对于进一步开发和评估物质使用的认知风险模型至关重要。
