Seth Newfight, Afroz Omar, Ramawat Raja Babu, Kaur Apinderjit, Karna Stuti, Singh Shalini, Bhad Roshan, Verma Rohit, Rao Ravindra
National Drug Dependence Treatment Centre (NDDTC), All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India.
Dept. of Psychiatry, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India.
Indian J Psychol Med. 2025 Sep 19:02537176251376317. doi: 10.1177/02537176251376317.
Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is accompanied by cognitive impairments, including attentional bias towards cues linked to alcohol. Most studies on attentional biases have focused on participants in intoxicated states, with limited research on differences between chronic and occasional users. This study aimed to examine attentional biases in chronic alcohol users compared to occasional users using eye-tracking.
In this cross-sectional study, 71 male participants (36 chronic users and 35 occasional users) were recruited from a tertiary care center in India. Eye-tracking assessments were conducted using free-viewing of emotional and landscape images, and viewing of alcohol related stimuli. For each task, variables such as the number of fixations, fixation duration, scan path, and anti-saccade rates were calculated.
No statistically significant difference was found between chronic alcohol users and occasional users in fixation metrics, scan path length, or anti-saccade rates for emotional, landscape, or alcohol related stimuli. Chronic alcohol users had slightly longer fixation durations and greater scan path lengths on alcohol-related stimuli, but these differences were not significant ( > .05).
Our findings suggest that chronic alcohol users may not always display prominent attentional biases in a sober state. The prolonged abstinence duration (>2 months) contributed to the absence of significant biases in our study. The slightly longer scan path length for alcohol-related images among chronic users may indicate that they were possibly avoiding these images. The findings also highlight the need for a state-dependent approach and the importance of assessing variables like craving in future research.
酒精使用障碍（AUD）伴有认知障碍，包括对与酒精相关线索的注意偏向。大多数关于注意偏向的研究都集中在醉酒状态的参与者身上，而对长期使用者和偶尔使用者之间差异的研究有限。本研究旨在通过眼动追踪比较长期饮酒者与偶尔饮酒者的注意偏向。
在这项横断面研究中，从印度一家三级护理中心招募了71名男性参与者（36名长期使用者和35名偶尔使用者）。通过自由观看情绪和风景图像以及观看与酒精相关的刺激物来进行眼动追踪评估。对于每个任务，计算注视次数、注视持续时间、扫描路径和反扫视率等变量。
在情绪、风景或与酒精相关的刺激物的注视指标、扫描路径长度或反扫视率方面，长期饮酒者和偶尔饮酒者之间未发现统计学上的显著差异。长期饮酒者在与酒精相关的刺激物上的注视持续时间略长，扫描路径长度略长，但这些差异不显著（>.05）。
我们的研究结果表明，长期饮酒者在清醒状态下可能并不总是表现出明显的注意偏向。在我们的研究中，较长的戒酒时间（>2个月）导致没有显著的偏向。长期使用者中与酒精相关图像的扫描路径长度略长，这可能表明他们可能在回避这些图像。研究结果还强调了采用状态依赖方法的必要性以及在未来研究中评估渴望等变量的重要性。
