The effect of alcohol dependence on reaction speed and alcohol choice in the implicit association test

Abstract

Objective. To study implicit associations in patients with alcohol dependence syndrome.

Materials and methods. The study included 423 practically healthy participants, as well as 263 patients of the narcology department of the Vitebsk regional clinical center of psychiatry and narcology and citizens staying in the treatment and labor preventorium № 4 of Vitebsk. Statistical processing of the results was carried out in the R environment version 4.3.3.

Results. The patterns of patients with alcohol dependence: high duration of touch and decreased reaction speed were identified. The IAT index for individuals in the control group was 0.54 ± 0.34, and for groups of patients — 0.87 ± 0.27 and 0.78 ± 0.42, indicating a stronger association of «alcohol» with positive emotions than «fruit» in all groups studied. At the same time, the value of IAT index in the patient groups differed statistically significantly (p < 0.001).

Conclusion. The findings provide information about the structure of alcohol perception in different groups, but the results can also be used to build refined models that will be used not only to study patient preferences after admission to a drug treatment unit, but also to prevent possible addictive behavior.

In conjunction with other neuropsychological diagnostic methods, the IAT test can be used for screening diagnosis and early detection of alcohol dependence.