Abstract
Introduction. Executive functions are multidimensional cognitive processes that provide organization and regulation of behavior. Impairments in executive functions are considered to be a risk factor for addiction, including alcohol dependence. However, it is not clear which domains of executive functions are the most vulnerable and how their changes relate to progression to addiction.
Methods. A total of 244 individuals with different alcohol consumption experiences (78 with safe alcohol consumption and 166 with diagnosed alcohol dependence) participated in this study. Executive functions were investigated with the Go/No-Go task, the Simon Test, the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, and the Corsi Block-Tapping Test, implemented in a computerized version on the Cognitive Symphony platform (Russia). In participants with alcohol dependence, data on dependence duration, remission duration, and treatment courses were also considered.
Results of the study showed that participants with alcohol dependence had significantly lower outcomes of executive cognition performance than those who practiced safe alcohol consumption. In particular, alcohol-dependent participants performed worse in cognitive control task (p = 0.0001), attention task (p = 0.026), and cognitive flexibility task (p = 0.006 and p = 0.040). Working memory was also found to be vulnerable, with all alcohol-dependents who performed with lower working memory span compared to participants with safe alcohol consumption (p = 0.044). Subsequent regression analysis showed that cognitive control errors and cognitive flexibility errors in individuals with alcohol dependence were associated with years of alcohol abuse (p < 0.01). In addition, the higher rate of progression to alcohol dependence, the more vulnerable was working memory (p = 0.002559).
Discussion. The study showed that executive cognition vulnerability in people with alcohol dependence was associated with alcohol abuse duration and dependence progression rate. The study results may contribute to intervention programs that target executive cognitive functions in alcohol addicts and those at high risk for alcohol dependence.
References
Воеводин, И. В., Пешковская, А. Г., Галкин, С. А., Белокрылов, И. И. (2020). Социальная адаптация и психическое здоровье студентов-мигрантов в Сибири. Социологические исследования, 11, 157–161. https://doi.org/10.31857/S013216250010306-9
Галкин, С. А., Бохан, Н. А. (2023). Особенности когнитивного процесса принятия решений, основанных на вознаграждении, у больных алкогольной зависимостью. Журнал неврологии и психиатрии им. С. С. Корсакова, 123(2), 37–43. https://doi.org/10.17116/jnevro202312302137
Галкин, С. А., Бохан, Н. А. (2021). Роль функциональной активности мозга в нарушении ингибиторного контроля при алкогольной зависимости. Журнал неврологии и психиатрии им. С. С. Корсакова, 121(11), 67–72. https://doi.org/10.17116/jnevro202112111167
Галкин, С. А., Пешковская, А. Г., Бохан, Н. А. (2021). Возможные клинико-электроэнцефалографические факторы прогноза длительности ремиссии пациентов с алкогольной зависимостью. Российский психиатрический журнал, 1, 47–52. https://doi.org/10.47877/1560-957Х-2021-10105
Галкин, С. А., Пешковская, А. Г., Симуткин, Г. Г., Васильева, С. Н., Рощина, О. В., Иванова, С. А., Бохан, Н. А. (2019). Нарушения функции пространственной рабочей памяти при депрессии легкой степени тяжести и их нейрофизиологические корреляты. Журнал неврологии и психиатрии им. С.С. Корсакова, 119(10), 56–61. https://doi.org/10.17116/jnevro201911910156
Зверева, Н. В., Хромов, А. И., Сергиенко, А. А., Коваль-Зайцев, А. А. (2017). Клинико-психологические методики оценки когнитивного развития детей и подростков при эндогенной психической патологии. ООО Полиграфист.
Иваницкий, А. М, Стрелец, В. Б., Корсаков, И. А. (1984). Информационные процессы мозга и психическая деятельность. Наука.
Полунина, А. Г., Давыдов, Д. М. (2004). Висконсинский тест сортировки карточек как инструмент оценки когнитивных функций. В Т. Б. Дмитриевой (ред.), Социальная психиатрия (217–236). Издательство ГНЦ ССП им. В. П. Сербского.
Славуцкая, М. В., Лебедева, И. С., Карелин, С. А., Омельченко, М. А. (2020). Позитивные компоненты зрительных вызванных потенциалов в саккадической парадигме «Go/No-go» в норме и при ультравысоком риске шизофрении. Журнал высшей нервной деятельности, 70(1), 12–24. https://doi.org/10.31857/S0044467720010141
Федеральная служба государственной статистики Росстат. (2022). Официальная статистика. Демография. URL: https://rosstat.gov.ru/folder/13721
American Psychological Association. (2021). One year later, a new wave of pandemic health concerns. URL: https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/stress/2021/one-year-pandemic-stress
Bourgault, Z., Rubin-Kahana, D. S., Hassan, A. N., Sanches, M., Le Foll, B. (2022). Multiple Substance Use Disorders and Self-Reported Cognitive Function in U.S. Adults: Associations and Sex-Differences in a Nationally Representative Sample. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 12, 797578. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.797578
Cai, H., Chow, I. H. I., Lei, S.-M., Lok, G. K. I., Su, Z., Cheung, T., Peshkovskaya, A., Tang, Y.-L., Jackson, T., Ungvari, G. S., Zhang, L., & Xiang, Y.-T. (2023). Inter-relationships of depressive and anxiety symptoms with suicidality among adolescents: A network perspective. Journal of Affective Disorders, 324, 480–488. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2022.12.093
Carbia, C., Lannoy, S., Maurage, P., López-Caneda, E., O'Riordan, K. J., Dinan, T. G., Cryan, J. F. (2021). A biological framework for emotional dysregulation in alcohol misuse: from gut to brain. Molecular Psychiatry, 26, 1098–1118. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41380-020-00970-6
Corsi, P. M. (1972). Human memory and the medial temporal region of the brain. McGill University.
Donders, F. C. (1969). On the speed of mental processes. Acta Psychologica, 30, 412–431. https://doi.org/10.1016/0001-6918(69)90065-1
Elton, A., Garbutt, J. C., Boettiger, C. A. (2021). Risk and resilience for alcohol use disorder revealed in brain functional connectivity. NeuroImage: Clinical, 32, 102801. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nicl.2021.102801
Formánek, T., Krupchanka, D., Mladá, K., Winkler, P., Jones, P. B. (2022). Mortality and life-years lost following subsequent physical comorbidity in people with pre-existing substance use disorders: a national registry-based retrospective cohort study of hospitalised individuals in Czechia. The lancet. Psychiatry, 9(12), 957–968. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2215-0366(22)00335-2
Galkin, S. A., Peshkovskaya, A. G., Simutkin, G. G., Vasil’eva, S. N., Roshchina, O. V., Ivanova, S. A., Bokhan, N. A. (2020). Impairments to the Functions of Spatial Working Memory in Mild Depression and their Neurophysiological Correlates. Neuroscience and Behavioral Physiology, 50(7), 825–829. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11055-020-00973-4
Grant, D. A., Berg, E. (1948). A behavioral analysis of degree of reinforcement and ease of shifting to new responses in Weigl-type card-sorting problem. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 38, 404–411.
Hommel, B. (1993). Inverting the Simon effect by intention: Determinants of direction and extent of effects of irrelevant spatial information. Psychological Research, 55, 270–279.
Kessels, R. P. C., van Zandvoort, M. J. E., Postman, A., Kapelle, L. J., de Hand, E. H. F. (2000). The Corsi Block-Tapping Task: Standardization and Normative Data. Applied Neuropsychology, 7(4), 252–258.
Kuznetsova, P. O. (2020). Alcohol mortality in Russia: assessment with representative survey data. Population and Economics, 4(3), 75–95. https://doi.org/10.3897/popecon.4.e51653
Lees, B., Stapinski, L. A., Prior, K., Sunderland, M., Newton, N., Baillie, A. (2020). Exploring the complex inter-relations between internalising symptoms, executive functioning, and alcohol use in young adults. Addictive Behaviors, 106, 106351. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addbeh.2020.106351
Nyhus, E., Barcelo, F. (2009). The Wisconsin Card Sorting Test and the cognitive assessment of prefrontal executive functions: A critical update. Brain and Cognition, 71, 437–451.
Pepe, M., Di Nicola, M., Moccia, L., Franza, R., Chieffo, D., Addolorato, G., … Sani, G. (2022). Limited Access to Emotion Regulation Strategies Mediates the Association Between Positive Urgency and Sustained Binge Drinking in Patients with Alcohol Use Disorder. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11469-022-00807-z
Peshkovskaya A. (2021). Letter to the editor: Other Consequences. COVID-19 and underestimated public health crisis. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 144, 320–322. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychires.2021.10.038
Peshkovskaya, A., Bokhan, N., Mandel, A., Badyrgy, I. (2022). Alcohol Use and Resilience among the Indigenous Tuvinians of Siberia. In: Danto, D., Zangeneh, M. (eds) Indigenous Knowledge and Mental Health. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-71346-1_10
Peshkovskaya A., Myagkov M. (2020). Eye Gaze Patterns of Decision Process in Prosocial Behavior. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, 14, 525087. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnbeh.2020.525087
Pollard, M. S., Tucker, J. S., Green, H. D. (2020). Changes in Adult Alcohol Use and Consequences during the COVID-19 Pandemic in the US. JAMA Network Open, 3(9), e2022942. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.22942
Ramey, T., Regier, P. S. (2019). Cognitive impairment in substance use disorders. CNS Spectrums, 24, 102–113. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1092852918001426
Simon, J. R., Wolf, J. D. (1963). Choice reaction times as a function of angular stimulus-response correspondence and age. Ergonomics, 6, 99–105.
Sømhovd, M., Hagen, E., Bergly, T., Arnevik, E. A. (2019). The Montreal cognitive assessment as a predictor of dropout from residential substance use disorder treatment. Heliyon, 5, e01282. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2019.e01282
Spindler, C., Trautmann, S., Alexander, N., Bröning, S., Bartscher, S., Stuppe, M., Muehlhan, M. (2021). Meta-analysis of grey matter changes and their behavioral characterization in patients with alcohol use disorder. Scientific Reports, 11, 5238. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-84804-7
Stavro, K., Pelletier, J., Potvin, S. (2013). Widespread and sustained cognitive deficits in alcoholism: a meta‐analysis. Addiction Biology, 18, 203–213. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1369-1600.2011.00418.x
Trusova, A., Berezina, A., Gvozdetskiy, A., Klimanova, S. (2018). Cognitive control in patients with alcohol use disorder: testing a three-function model. Archives of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, 2, 34–41. https://doi.org/ 10.12740/APP/86211
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Copyright (c) 2023 Anastasia Peshkovskaya