Perceived Alcohol Reward Value and Risk: Neural Correlates and Treatment Effects
Overview
- Phase
- Not Applicable
- Status
- Completed
- Enrollment
- 60
- Primary Endpoint
- Percent Heavy Drinking Days
Overview
Brief Summary
The identification of mechanisms that underlie how people reduce or eliminate alcohol use is a critical public health issue. Understanding these mechanisms can inform how to effectively intervene with problem drinkers. Thus far it has been a challenge for the alcohol research field to find consistent empirical evidence in support of candidate mechanisms of behavior change. Scientific advancement in this area may be aided by longitudinal transdisciplinary research on the interplay between behavioral intervention, cognition, and brain activity to understand underlying processes of behavior change among heavy drinkers. This study employed a randomized 2-arm repeated measures design with a sample of non-treatment seeking adult heavy drinkers to examine changes in perceived reward value and risks of alcohol use as a mechanism of alcohol behavior change after a brief behavioral intervention. Participants were randomized to either a 1-session behavioral intervention or to an attention-matched control condition and immediately after completed an fMRI scan. The focus of this project is to examine if group differences in perceived alcohol reward value after the intervention mediates an intervention effect on reducing alcohol use in the 1 month following the intervention.
Study Design
- Study Type
- Interventional
- Allocation
- Randomized
- Intervention Model
- Parallel
- Primary Purpose
- Treatment
- Masking
- None
Eligibility Criteria
- Ages
- 21 Years to — (Adult, Older Adult)
- Sex
- All
- Accepts Healthy Volunteers
- No
Inclusion Criteria
- •engaged in regular heavy drinking, as indicated by consuming 5 or more drinks per occasion for men or 4 or more drinks per occasion for women at least 4 times in the month prior to enrollment
- •a score of ≥ 8 on the Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (AUDIT)
Exclusion Criteria
- •under the age of 21
- •currently receiving treatment for alcohol problems, history of treatment in the 30 days before enrollment, or currently seeking treatment
- •a positive urine toxicology screen for any drug other than cannabis
- •a lifetime history of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or other psychotic disorder
- •serious alcohol withdrawal symptoms
- •history of epilepsy, seizures, or severe head trauma
- •non-removable ferromagnetic objects in body
- •claustrophobia
Outcomes
Primary Outcomes
Percent Heavy Drinking Days
Time Frame: 4 weeks post intervention
Percent heavy drinking days defined as 5+ drinks for men and 4+ for women according to self-reported Timeline Follow Back (TLFB) data
Neural Alcohol Cue Reactivity
Time Frame: Single time point immediately post intervention
Neural alcohol cue reactivity as measured by whole brain activation to alcohol taste cue vs. water taste cue using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)
Secondary Outcomes
No secondary outcomes reported
Investigators
Lara Ray, PhD
Co-Principal Investigator
University of California, Los Angeles