Retraining automatic action tendencies changes alcoholic patients’ approach bias for alcohol and improves treatment outcome
Wiers, Eberl, Rinck, Becker & Lindenmeyer (2011)
Psychological science 490-497

Abstract

A short intervention change alcoholics’ automatic approach bias for alcohol and may improve treatment outcome.

Introduction

Behaviour is partly governed through relatively automatic processes that may exert their influence outside conscious control. Addictive behaviours are an imbalance between strong impulsive or associative reactions to drug-related cues and relatively weak reflective or controlled processes. This makes the individual susceptible to sensitized cues triggering action tendencies leading to the addictive behaviour.

This can be reflected in different cognitive biases: an attentional bias for alcohol-related stimuli, a memory bias for the automatic activation of alcohol-related associations, and a bias toward automatically activated action tendencies to approach alcohol

If people are not willing or able to counter these biases, the addictive behaviour is likely to continue.

In the alcohol approach/avoidance task (alcohol-AAT), participants are instructed to respond with an approach movement (pulling a joystick) to pictures of one type and to respond with an avoidance movement (pushing a joystick) to pictures of another type. Pulling the joystick increases the size of the picture, and pushing it decreases the size. This zooming effect generates a sensation of approach or avoidance respectively.

Heavy drinkers show an approach bias toward alcohol pictures.

Training is associated with congruent changes in alcohol consumption in a taste test.

Discussion

A brief CBM intervention aimed at modifying automatically activated action tendencies in alcoholic patients changed their approach bias for alcohol to an avoidance bias, with generalized effects across stimuli and measures.

Targeting action tendencies may have strong effects because they relate to a motivational state at the heart of an emotional response.

The association between the object and the concept of approach or avoidance might be crucial.