Hogarth, Lee, Dickinson, Anthony, Janowski, Molly, Nikitina, Aleksandra and Duka, Dora (2008) The role of attentional bias in mediating human drug-seeking behaviour. Psychopharmacology, 201 (1). pp. 29-41. ISSN 0033-3158

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Abstract

RATIONALE: The attentional bias for drug cues is believed to be a causal cognitive process mediating human drug seeking and relapse. METHODS AND RESULTS: To test this claim, we trained smokers on a tobacco conditioning procedure in which the conditioned stimulus (or S+) acquired parallel control of an attentional bias (measured with an eye tracker), tobacco expectancy and instrumental tobacco-seeking behaviour. Although this correlation between measures may be regarded as consistent with the claim that the attentional bias for the S+ mediated tobacco seeking, when a secondary task was added in the test phase, the attentional bias for the S+ was abolished, yet the control of tobacco expectancy and tobacco seeking remained intact. CONCLUSIONS: This dissociation suggests that the attentional bias for drug cues is not necessary for the control that drug cues exert over drug-seeking behaviour. The question raised by these data is what function does the attentional bias serve if it does not mediate drug seeking?

Item Type:	Article
Schools and Departments:	School of Psychology > Psychology
Depositing User:	Dora Duka
Date Deposited:	06 Feb 2012 15:31
Last Modified:	12 Mar 2012 11:22
URI:	http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/13049

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