Laboratoire de Psychologie Médicale et d'Addictologie, ULB Neuroscience Institute (UNI), CHU Brugmann, Université Libre de Bruxelles (U.L.B.), Bruxelles, Belgium.
IPSY, Université catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium.
Alcohol Clin Exp Res. 2021 Mar;45(3):620-629. doi: 10.1111/acer.14557. Epub 2021 Feb 28.
Spontaneous motor responses of approach and avoidance toward stimuli are important in characterizing psychopathological conditions, including alcohol use disorder (AUD). However, divergent results have been reported, possibly due to confounded parameters (e.g., using a symbolic vs. a sensorimotor task, implementation of approach-avoidance as a measure vs. a manipulation).
We studied whole-body/posturometric changes by using a sensorimotor measure relying on embodied cognition principles to assess forward (approach) and backward (avoidance) spontaneous leaning movements. Over a 12-second period, 51 male patients with AUD and 29 male control participants were instructed to stand still in response to both alcohol and sexual visual content. Patients with AUD were then divided into "abstainers" and "relapsers," depending on their continuous abstinence at 2 weeks postdischarge (obtained via a telephone follow-up interview). The effects of the group, the stimulus type, the experimental period, and their interactions on the posturometric changes were tested using mixed Analyses of variance (ANOVAs), with a significance threshold set at 0.05.
Contrary to our expectations, patients and controls did not show significant difference in their forward/backward micromovements while passively viewing alcohol or sexual content (p > 0.1). However, in line with our hypothesis, patients who relapsed several weeks following discharge from the rehabilitation program were significantly more reactive and more likely to lean back during the first seconds of viewing alcohol cues (p = 0.002). Further, "relapsers" were more likely to lean forward during exposure to sexual content than participants who remained abstinent (p < 0.001).
Among individuals with AUD, there are distinct pattern of spontaneous movements that differentiate "abstainers" and "relapsers," findings that can be understood in light of existing data and theories on action tendencies.
对刺激物的接近和回避的自发运动反应在表征精神病理学状况（包括酒精使用障碍（AUD））方面很重要。然而，由于参数混淆（例如，使用符号与感觉运动任务、将接近回避作为测量与操作），报告的结果存在差异。
我们使用一种基于具身认知原理的感觉运动测量方法来研究全身/姿势变化，以评估向前（接近）和向后（回避）的自发倾斜运动。在 12 秒的时间内，51 名男性 AUD 患者和 29 名男性对照组参与者被指示在对酒精和性视觉内容做出反应时保持静止。然后，根据他们在出院后 2 周内的连续戒酒情况（通过电话随访获得），将 AUD 患者分为“戒酒者”和“复饮者”。使用混合方差分析（ANOVA）测试组、刺激类型、实验期及其相互作用对姿势变化的影响，显著阈值设为 0.05。
与我们的预期相反，患者和对照组在被动观看酒精或性内容时，他们的前后微运动没有显著差异（p>0.1）。然而，与我们的假设一致，在从康复计划中出院后的几周内复发的患者在观看酒精线索的前几秒钟时反应更为强烈，更有可能向后倾斜（p=0.002）。此外，与保持戒酒的参与者相比，“复饮者”在暴露于性内容时更有可能向前倾斜（p<0.001）。
在 AUD 个体中，有明显的自发运动模式可以区分“戒酒者”和“复饮者”，这些发现可以根据现有的行动倾向数据和理论来理解。
