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The Effect of Self‐Control on Attentional Bias for Alcohol Cues in Male Heavy Drinkers 1
Author(s) -
TEUNISSEN HANNEKE A.,
SPIJKERMAN RENSKE,
SCHOENMAKERS TIM M.,
VOHS KATHLEEN D.,
ENGELS RUTGER C. M. E.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
journal of applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1559-1816
pISSN - 0021-9029
DOI - 10.1111/j.1559-1816.2011.00800.x
Subject(s) - attentional bias , psychology , craving , task (project management) , alcohol consumption , control (management) , alcohol , expression (computer science) , attentional control , cognitive psychology , developmental psychology , audiology , cognition , addiction , psychiatry , medicine , biochemistry , chemistry , management , computer science , economics , programming language
Attentional bias for alcohol cues increases craving and subsequent alcohol consumption. Override processes can be used to disengage attention from alcohol cues. This requires self‐control and implies that depletion of self‐control would impair the ability to disengage attention from alcohol cues. This study examined the effect of self‐control on attentional bias among male heavy drinkers. To manipulate self‐control resources, an expression control task was used. Attentional bias was measured with a visual probe task. The Obsessive Compulsive Drinking Scale (OCDS; Anton, Moak, & Latham, 1996) assessed the urge to drink and persistent thoughts about alcohol. The results suggest that participants who scored relatively high on the OCDS showed more attentional bias after controlled emotional expression, compared to free emotional expression.