Afferent Neurocardiac Signals, Cue Reactivity, and Cognitive Control

Not Applicable

• Conditions: Binge Drinking
• Interventions: Behavioral: Resonance breathing; Behavioral: Low demand cognitive task

• Registration Number: NCT05369169
• Lead Sponsor: Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

Brief Summary

Conscious attempts to regulate alcohol use are often undermined by automatic attention and arousal processes activated by alcohol cues, as well as by diminished ability to inhibit in-the-moment behaviors. The current study will examine whether a brief behavioral intervention of slow breathing paced at a resonance frequency of the cardiovascular system can interrupt automatic alcohol cue reactivity and enhance cognitive control in binge drinkers. Results from the proposed study may provide new prevention and intervention targets to interrupt unhealthy drinking behaviors.

Detailed Description

Not available

Study Timeline

• Study First Submitted: 2022-03-16
• Study First Submitted QC: 2022-05-05
• Study First Posted: 2022-05-11
• Status Verified: 2022-07
• Study Start: 2022-07-01
• Last Update Submitted: 2022-07-15
• Last Update Posted: 2022-07-18
• Primary Completion: 2023-04-30
• Study Completion: 2023-04-30

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: UNKNOWN
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 100

Inclusion Criteria

• Must report at least 2 binge drinking episodes in the past month
• Have normal or corrected-to-normal vision

Exclusion Criteria

• History or presence of serious psychiatric disorders, neurological disorders, or head injury resulting in a loss of consciousness
• Presence of any serious medical condition
• Report of more than a few occasions (3-4) of illicit drug use, except for cannabis, in the preceding year

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: CROSSOVER

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Resonance paced breathing	Resonance breathing	Active resonance breathing task consisting of synchronizing breathing with a visual pacer (E-Z Air, Thought Technology, Ltd., Plattsburgh, NY) that moves up (inhale) and down (exhale) at the rate of 0.1 Hz (6 breaths per min)
Low demand vanilla control	Low demand cognitive task	A low-demand cognitive "vanilla" task wherein different colored rectangles are presented for 10 sec each, and participants are instructed to silently count the number of blue rectangles

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
P3b ERP amplitude (in microvolts) elicited from a picture-viewing task	Immediate; Difference between the active resonance breathing compared to the low demand cognitive task occurring one week apart	The P3b component of the event-related potential occurring 300-600 ms after stimulus presentation at central and parietal electrode sites during a picture viewing task following a 5-minute course of resonance breathing compared to a low-demand control task
N2 ERP amplitude (in microvolts) elicited from an Alcohol Cued Go/No-Go task	Immediate; Difference between the active resonance breathing compared to the low demand cognitive task occurring one week apart	The N2 component (in microvolts) of the event-related potential occurring 250-350 ms after stimulus presentation at frontal and central electrode sites during an Alcohol Cued Go/No-Go task following a 5-minute course of resonance breathing compared to a low-demand control task
N2pc ERP amplitude (in microvolts) elicited from a visual dot probe detection task	Immediate; Difference between the active resonance breathing compared to the low demand cognitive task occurring one week apart	The N2pc component of the event-related potential occurring 200-275 ms after stimulus presentation at parietal and occipital electrode sites (ipsilateral minus contralateral hemisphere activity) during a modified visual dot probe detection task following a 5-minute course of resonance breathing compared to a low-demand control task
N2 ERP latency (in milliseconds) elicited from an Alcohol Cued Go/No-Go task	Immediate; Difference between the active resonance breathing compared to the low demand cognitive task occurring one week apart	The latency of the N2 component of the event-related potential from frontal and central electrode sites during a picture viewing task following a 5-minute course of resonance breathing compared to a low-demand control task. Latency will be determined using 50% area latency from a difference wave between task conditions
N2pc ERP latency (in milliseconds) elicited from a visual dot probe detection task	Immediate; Difference between the active resonance breathing compared to the low demand cognitive task occurring one week apart	The latency of the N2pc component of the event-related potential from parietal and occipital electrode sites during a visual dot probe detection task following a 5-minute course of resonance breathing compared to a low-demand control task. Latency will be determined using 50% area latency from a difference wave between task conditions
P3b ERP latency (in milliseconds) elicited from a picture-viewing task	Immediate; Difference between the active resonance breathing compared to the low demand cognitive task occurring one week apart	The latency of the P3b component of the event-related potential from central and parietal electrode sites during a picture viewing task following a 5-minute course of resonance breathing compared to a low-demand control task. Latency will be determined using 50% area latency from a difference wave between task conditions
Task accuracy from the behavioral response during the Alcohol Cued Go/No-Go task	Immediate; Difference between the active resonance breathing compared to the low demand cognitive task occurring one week apart	Task accuracy as a percentage of correct behavioral responses to the task during the Alcohol Cued Go/No-Go ERP task following a 5-minute course of resonance breathing compared to a low-demand control task
Reaction time from the behavioral response during the Alcohol Cued Go/No-Go task	Immediate; Difference between the active resonance breathing compared to the low demand cognitive task occurring one week apart	Reaction time for the correct behavioral responses to the task measured in milliseconds during the Alcohol Cued Go/No-Go ERP task following a 5-minute course of resonance breathing compared to a low-demand control task
Task accuracy from the behavioral response during the visual dot probe detection task	Immediate; Difference between the active resonance breathing compared to the low demand cognitive task occurring one week apart	Task accuracy as a percentage of correct behavioral responses to the task during the visual dot probe detection task following a 5-minute course of resonance breathing compared to a low-demand control task
Reaction time from the behavioral response during the visual dot probe detection task	Immediate; Difference between the active resonance breathing compared to the low demand cognitive task occurring one week apart	Reaction time for the correct behavioral responses to the task measured in milliseconds during the visual dot probe ERP task following a 5-minute course of resonance breathing compared to a low-demand control task

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey; 🇺🇸 New Brunswick, New Jersey, United States