Biomedical subjects

Andrew J Waters

Publications and source records attributed to Andrew J Waters.

9 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Attentional bias predicts heroin relapse following treatment.

AIMS: Previous studies have shown that abstinent heroin addicts exhibit an attentional bias to heroin-related stimuli. It has been suggested that attentional bias may represent a vulnerability to relapse into drug use. In the present study, the predictive value of pre-treatment attentional bias on relapse was examined in a population of abstinent heroin addicts. Further, the effect of cue exposure therapy (CET) on attentional bias was studied. DESIGN: Participants were assigned randomly to receive nine sessions of CET or placebo psychotherapy. SETTING: An in-patient drug abuse treatment setting. PARTICIPANTS: Abstinent heroin-dependent patients. MEASUREMENTS: Participants completed the emotional Stroop task both before and after completing treatment. FINDINGS: Pre-treatment attentional bias predicted relapse at 3-month follow-up, even when controlling for self-reported cravings at the test session. Further, attentional bias was reduced in both groups after therapy, independent of treatment condition. CONCLUSIONS: Attentional bias may tap an important component of drug dependence as it is a predictor of opiate relapse. However, CET does not specifically reduce attentional bias.

Attention↗

PubMed2005

Generalizability of carry-over effects in the emotional Stroop task.

The emotional Stroop task has been the most widely used task to examine attentional bias to emotionally salient stimuli. In one format of this task, words are presented to participants in a mixed randomized or quasi-randomized sequence. Using a mixed smoking Stroop task, we have previously demonstrated that smokers are slower to respond to words which follow smoking-related words than words which follow neutral words. Here we show that this carry-over effect is present in heroin addicts-but not control subjects-in a heroin Stroop task, and in normal subjects in a stress Stroop task. Thus, the effect generalizes to other populations. In addition, an examination of the studies that have collected data from both mixed and blocked formats provides converging evidence for the presence of carry-over effects. We discuss the implications of the carry-over effect for research using the emotional Stroop task.

Adult↗

PubMed2004

Negative affect and smoking lapses: a prospective analysis.

Relapse is a central problem in smoking treatment. Data collected at the time of relapse episodes indicate that stress and negative affect (NA) promote relapse, but retrospective data are potentially biased. The authors performed a prospective analysis of stress and NA prior to initial lapses in smokers (N = 215). Day-to-day changes in stress (daily negative and positive events and Perceived Stress Scale scores) and NA (multiple momentary affect ratings) did not predict lapse risk on the following day. However, within the lapse day itself, NA was already significantly increasing hours before lapses, but only for episodes attributed to stress or bad mood. Thus, rapid increases in NA, but not slow-changing shifts in stress and NA, were associated with relapse.

Adult↗

PubMed2004

Cue-provoked craving and nicotine replacement therapy in smoking cessation.

Cue exposure paradigms have been used to examine reactivity to smoking cues. However, it is not known whether cue-provoked craving is associated with smoking cessation outcomes or whether cue reactivity can be attenuated by nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) in clinical samples. Cue-provoked craving ratings and reaction time responses were measured on the 1st day of abstinence among 158 smokers who had been randomized to high-dose nicotine (35 mg) or placebo patch. The nicotine patch reduced overall levels of craving but did not attenuate cue-provoked craving increases or reaction time responses. Cue-provoked craving predicted relapse among participants on the nicotine patch but not among those on placebo. In summary, NRT users could benefit from treatment that attenuates cue-provoked craving.

Administration, Cutaneous↗

PubMed2003

Attentional bias predicts outcome in smoking cessation.

Most attempts to quit smoking end in failure, with many quitters relapsing in the first few days. Responses to smoking-related cues may precipitate relapse. A modified emotional Stroop task-which measures the extent to which smoking-related words disrupt performance on a reaction time (RT) task-was used to index the distracting effects of smoking-related cues. Smokers (N = 158) randomized to a high-dose nicotine patch (35 mg) or placebo patch completed the Stroop task on the 1st day of a quit attempt. Smokers using an active patch exhibited less attentional bias, making fewer errors on smoking-related words. Smokers who showed greater attentional bias (slowed RT on the first block of smoking words) were significantly more likely to lapse in the short-term, even when controlling for self-reported urges at the test session. Attentional bias measures may tap an important component of dependence.

Adult↗

PubMed2003

The role of constraints in expert memory.

A great deal of research has been devoted to developing process models of expert memory. However, K. J. Vicente and J. H. Wang (1998) proposed (a) that process theories do not provide an adequate account of expert recall in domains in which memory recall is a contrived task and (b) that a product theory, the constraint attunement hypothesis (CAH), has received a significant amount of empirical support. We compared 1 process theory (the template theory; TT; F. Gobet & H. A. Simon, 1996c) with the CAH in chess. Chess players (N=36) differing widely in skill levels were required to recall briefly presented chess positions that were randomized in various ways. Consistent with TT, but inconsistent with the CAH, there was a significant skill effect in a condition in which both the location and distribution of the pieces were randomized. These and other results suggest that process models such as TT can provide a viable account of expert memory in chess.

Achievement↗

PubMed2003

Attentional shifts to smoking cues in smokers.

AIMS: Many theories of addiction assume that responses to drug cues maintain drug use and precipitate relapse. There is evidence that measures derived from experimental cognitive psychology yield important information about cue reactivity. We used a pictorial version of the visual probe task to evaluate: (i) whether minimally deprived smokers attend differentially to smoking cues (attentional bias); (ii) whether this bias is related to self-reported craving and dependence; and (iii) whether it predicted outcome in a subsequent cessation attempt. DESIGN: Participants took part in a structured smoking cessation program. Each participant completed the visual probe task roughly 2 weeks before quitting while non-deprived. SETTING: A research smoking cessation clinic. PARTICIPANTS: 141 heavy smokers seeking treatment for smoking cessation. MEASUREMENTS: The computerized attentional bias measure and self-reported urge were taken in a laboratory session. Participants also monitored their smoking and craving on electronic diaries both when smoking ad libitum and for up to 6 weeks post-cessation. FINDINGS: Participants were faster and more accurate in responding to a visual probe that replaced a smoking picture than to a neutral picture, indicating that they showed attentional bias towards the smoking cues. Attentional bias on the first half of the task correlated with pre-task craving, indicating that the bias may tap motivational processes, but it did not predict outcome in smoking cessation. CONCLUSIONS: The visual probe task can add useful information about attentional responses to drug cues. Further work is required to uncover the theoretical significance and utility of this measure.

Adult↗

PubMed2003

Smoking topography: reliability and validity in dependent smokers.

Data from two studies were analyzed to determine whether smoking through the mouthpiece of a topography unit yields consistent measures over time and to verify that smoking through a mouthpiece results in a similar degree of smoke exposure as conventional smoking. In both studies, subjects smoked their usual brand of cigarette ad libitum. In study A, subjects (n=7) smoked through a mouthpiece on 4 separate experimental days. In study B, subjects (n=10) smoked on 2 separate days: Once conventionally and once through a mouthpiece. In both studies, exhaled carbon monoxide (CO) and physiological effects (heart rate and blood pressure) were measured before and after smoking. In study B, plasma nicotine concentrations also were measured. In study A, puff volume, puff duration, interpuff interval, and maximum puff velocity averaged 30.8 ml,.9 s, 19.9 s, and 44.6 ml/s, respectively. Intraclass correlation coefficients computed for puff volume (0.66), puff duration (0.75), and maximum puff velocity (0.68) indicated that these measures showed good reliability. In study B, smoking through the mouthpiece yielded similar topographical (time to smoke and number of puffs per cigarette) measures as conventional smoking. Also similar were changes in biochemical values: Plasma nicotine (18.5 ng/ml vs. 25.5 ng/ml), exhaled CO (4.6 ppm vs. 5.1 ppm), and heart rate (8.6 beats/min vs. 7.4 beats/min) for conventional and topography mouthpiece smoking conditions, respectively. Topography measures did not differ significantly between the two studies. Overall, the data from these two small-sample studies suggest that smoking topography provides a valid and reliable index of conventional smoking and an indirect measure of smoke exposure.

Adult↗

PubMed2002

Visuospatial abilities of chess players.

The extent to which the acquisition of expertise in knowledge-rich domains, such as chess, can be influenced by general individual characteristics, such as intelligence, has remained unclear. Some previous studies with children have documented significant correlations between chess skill and performance on some psychometric tests, such as performance IQ. However, we found no evidence for a correlation between chess skill and visual memory ability in a group of adult chess players (N = 36, age = 28.4 years). This finding, together with other data in the literature, suggests that there is surprisingly little evidence that chess skill and visuospatial ability are associated in adults. Thus, visual memory ability, and perhaps visuospatial intelligence, may be relatively unimportant factors in the long-term acquisition of chess skill.

Adult↗