Neural and Behavioral Effects of Cognitive Bias Modification (CBM)

September 7, 2022 updated by: Kelli Tahaney, Boston University Charles River Campus

Addressing Problem Drinking From the Bottom-Up: An Investigation of the Neural and Behavioral Effects of Cognitive Bias Modification (CBM)

This study seeks to better understand mechanisms of behavior change for heavy drinkers who are interested in changing their drinking. The study will examine the effects of CBM as an adjunctive treatment on neurocognitive processes related to alcohol use in a sample of heavy/at-risk drinkers using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The primary aim of this project is to examine the effects of CBM on neurocognitive approach tendencies and control processes, among heavy/at-risk drinkers interested in changing their alcohol use. As a secondary aim, this project will investigate associations between neural and cognitive changes and changes in alcohol use to better understand how CBM might lead to successful changes in drinking behavior. Either CBM (treatment group) or sham computer task (control group) will be paired with a motivational web-based intervention for alcohol use. Brain activity will be measures twice via fMRI--pre-treatment and 1-week post-treatment. The experimental tasks completed in the fMRI scans include 2 alcohol cue reactivity (CR) tasks--one standard and one in which participants are told to either inhibit (INHIBIT) or engage in (INDULGE) their reaction to images of alcohol and neutral beverages. Follow-up drinking behavior will be measured also at 1-week and online via 1- and 6-month follow-ups. Brain activity at baseline and follow-up will be measured in pre-defined regions of interest including amygdala, NAcc, mPFC, and dlPFC. It is hypothesized that the CBM group will exhibit changes in approach biases as exhibited by reductions in brain activity in the amygdala, NAcc, mPFC in response to alcohol cues in both CR tasks (alcohol CR, INDULGE CR, and INHIBIT CR) compared to sham. In addition, those in the CBM group will show increased dlPFC brain activity during alcohol CR and INHIBIT trials of the cued-CR task as evidence strengthened control abilities in response to alcohol cues. Finally, as a secondary hypothesis, those in the CBM group will show greater reductions in drinking and craving at follow-up.

Study Overview

Status

Status

Indicates the current recruitment status or the expanded access status.
Completed

Conditions

Conditions

The disease, disorder, syndrome, illness, or injury that is being studied. On ClinicalTrials.gov, conditions may also include other health-related issues, such as lifespan, quality of life, and health risks.

Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.

Detailed Description

Forty heavy/at-risk drinkers (ages 18-34) who report an interest in changing their drinking behavior will be recruited for this proposed project. "Interest" will be operationalized as an affirmative answer on an item adapted (for past-month) from the CAGE questionnaire: "In the past month, have you felt you should cut down or stop drinking?" (Mayfield, McLeod, & Hall, 1974). Heavy/at-risk drinking will be defined in terms of consumption (7+/14+ drinks per week and/or 3+/4+ drinks on one occasion over the past week for women and men, respectively; USDHHS, 2005) and score on the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT score of 8-19; Babor, Higgins-Biddle, Saunders, & Monteiro, 2001). A score between 8-19 on the AUDIT is indicative of heavy use while scores 20 and above are indicative of a more severe alcohol use disorder (i.e., "dependence", DSM-IV; APA, 2013; APA, 2000). Participants will be recruited through online advertisements on Craigslist, social media websites, and "Quickie Job Board" listings on student websites as well as via flyers in community and student health centers. Upon responding to advertisements participants will be administered a phone screen or complete online screening survey to determine study eligibility.

If eligible, baseline assessments will be administered at an in person appointment, including self-report assessments about alcohol use, drug use, consequences, and alcohol craving. Participants will complete a baseline fMRI scan, which involves administration of two versions of an alcohol cue reactivity (CR) task. Both CR tasks administered in the scanner will consist of a block design. The first alcohol CR task consists of two types of blocks-1) alcohol and 2) neutral beverage (i.e., soft drinks, juice, water). Subjects will be presented with 40 alcohol images and 40 neutral beverage images, respectively. The second task, the cued-CR task, involves 3 blocks utilizing the same images as the alcohol-CR task. Subjects will receive instructions regarding their reaction to the photos-1) INHIBIT CR (alcohol images), 2) INHIBIT NEUTRAL (neutral beverage images), and 3) INDULGE CR (alcohol images). More specifically, participants will be given the instruction to imagine each image is available to them and to either inhibit their natural reaction to the images presented (alcohol in one block, neutral beverages in another block) or think about the possibility of consuming, in this moment, each (alcohol-containing) beverage shown. This task was inspired by fMRI studies using CR tasks and cognitive restraint strategies to inhibit cravings for food and/or alcohol (Naqvi et al., 2015; Yokum & Stice, 2013). For both tasks, each image will be presented for 4 seconds followed by a 2 second inter-image interval. Participants will be asked to rate their level of craving after each block for the first task only. Following this baseline scan, participants will complete a brief web-based intervention for alcohol use, Rethinking Drinking: Alcohol and Your Health (NIAAA, 2015), and will subsequently be randomized to either cognitive bias modification (CBM) or sham training. They will complete the first session of either CBM or sham training after randomization as well as an additional 4 CBM/sham sessions at home (via web) over one week following baseline. Participants will return to the lab one-week following their baseline appointment. At follow-up assessment, participants will complete all baseline assessment measures in addition to a second fMRI session consisting of the same CR tasks. Finally, participants will be emailed a link to a web-based survey at 1- and 6-months following baseline to assess drinking behavior. Data analysis will employ region of interest (ROI) analysis. Predefined ROIs include the bilateral amygdala, nucleus accumbens (NAcc), and dorsolateral and medial prefrontal cortex (dlPFC and mPFC). Anatomical ROIs will be generated using the Wake Forest University (WFU) Pickatlas automatic anatomical labeling tool (Maldjian, Laurienti, Kraft, & Burdette, 2003) available for SPM. The analytic plan for testing study hypotheses are as follows: Primary Aim 1-For the alcohol CR task, two within subject contrasts will be calculated-1] alcohol CR > neutral CR pre-CBM/sham and 2] (alcohol CR > neutral CR) pre-CBM/sham - (alcohol CR > neutral CR) post-CBM/sham-in pre-defined ROIs. Primary Aim 2-as with the alcohol CR task, the within subject contrasts will be 1] INDULGE CR > INHIBIT CR pre-CBM/sham and 2] (INDULGE CR > INHIBIT CR) pre-CBM/sham - (INDULGE CR > INHIBIT CR) post-CBM/sham. Similar within subject contrasts will be explored for INHIBIT CR and INHIBIT NEUTRAL CR as a control. T-tests will be used to compare within subject contrasts for each task as well as to compare between-group contrasts (i.e., alcohol CR and INHIBIT CR pre-and post- CBM/sham). Secondary Aim: Correlations will be run to determine whether BL BOLD activity in each ROI significantly correlate with behavioral measures for both BL and 1-week follow-up. For significant correlations, pre- and post-CBM/sham difference scores will be calculated for behavioral measures and then correlated with significant BOLD contrasts representing change in neural activity.

Study Type

Study Type

Describes the nature of a clinical study. Study types include interventional studies (also called clinical trials), observational studies (including patient registries), and expanded access.
Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

Enrollment

The number of participants in a clinical study. The "anticipated" enrollment is the target number of participants that the researchers need for the study.
11

Phase

Phase

The stage of a clinical trial studying a drug or biological product, based on definitions developed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The phase is based on the study's objective, the number of participants, and other characteristics. There are five phases: Early Phase 1 (formerly listed as Phase 0), Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3, and Phase 4. Not Applicable is used to describe trials without FDA-defined phases, including trials of devices or behavioral interventions.
  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Massachusetts
      • Boston, Massachusetts, United States, 02215
        • Rajen Kilachand Center for Integrated Life Sciences and Engineering at Boston University

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

The key requirements that people who want to participate in a clinical study must meet or the characteristics they must have. Eligibility criteria consist of both inclusion criteria (which are required for a person to participate in the study) and exclusion criteria (which prevent a person from participating). Types of eligibility criteria include whether a study accepts healthy volunteers, has age or age group requirements, or is limited by sex.

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years to 34 years (ADULT)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • current hazardous drinking (score of 8+ on USAUDIT-C)
  • interest in changing drinking
  • English-speaking
  • able to provide informed consent

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Score of 25+ on USAUDIT
  • current or past treatment for alcohol or drug use
  • lifetime diagnosis of other substance use disorder
  • self-reported weekly or more other drug use as indicated on the NIDA-modified Alcohol, Smoking, and Substance Involvement Screening Test
  • history of head injury or loss of consciousness
  • lifetime diagnosis of bipolar disorder, psychotic symptomatology, organic mental disorder, seizure disorder, or central nervous system disease
  • pregnancy
  • current use of psychotropic medication
  • history of delirium tremens and/or seizures as a result of alcohol withdrawal
  • contraindications to fMRI (claustrophobia, pregnancy, metal, pacemaker, etc.).

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: TREATMENT
  • Allocation: RANDOMIZED
  • Interventional Model: PARALLEL
  • Masking: SINGLE

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm

Participant Group / Arm

A group or subgroup of participants in a clinical trial that receives a specific intervention/treatment, or no intervention, according to the trial's protocol.
Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.
EXPERIMENTAL: CBM Group
This group will receive Cognitive Bias Modification training
Behavioral: Cognitive Bias Modification
CBM sessions are computer tasks that take 15 minutes each. CBM is similar to an alcohol approach avoidance task (AAT) in that they will involve moving their mouse forward to simulate an avoidance/push response and backward to simulate an approach/pull response in response to alcohol and neutral stimuli depending on photograph orientation. Photos will get larger as if coming toward the participant when "pulled" and will get smaller as if moving away when "pushed". CBM will involve pushing 90% of alcohol stimuli (pulling 10%) and pulling 90% of neutral stimuli (pushing 10%).
SHAM_COMPARATOR: Control Group
This group will receive Sham (control) training
Behavioral: Sham Training
Sham training sessions are computer tasks that take 15 minutes each. Sham training is similar to an alcohol approach avoidance task (AAT) in that they will involve moving their mouse forward to simulate an avoidance/push response and backward to simulate an approach/pull response in response to alcohol and neutral stimuli depending on photograph orientation. Photos will get larger as if coming toward the participant when "pulled" and will get smaller as if moving away when "pushed". Sham training will involve pushing and pulling 50% of each type of stimuli (alcohol and neutral)

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Primary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, the planned outcome measure that is the most important for evaluating the effect of an intervention/treatment. Most clinical studies have one primary outcome measure, but some have more than one.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
BOLD signal change in ROIs (amygdala, NAcc, mPFC, dlPFC) during alcohol cue-reactivity
Time Frame: 1-week
decreased signal indicates better outcomes for amygdala, NAcc, and mPFC; increased signal indicates better outcomes for dlPFC
1-week
BOLD signal change in ROIs (amygdala, NAcc, mPFC, dlPFC) during INHIBIT cue-reactivity
Time Frame: 1-week
decreased signal indicates better outcomes for amygdala, NAcc, and mPFC; increased signal indicates better outcomes for dlPFC
1-week
BOLD signal change in ROIs (amygdala, NAcc, mPFC) during INDULGE cue-reactivity
Time Frame: 1-week
decreased signal indicates better outcomes for amygdala, NAcc, and mPFC
1-week

Secondary Outcome Measures

Secondary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, a planned outcome measure that is not as important as the primary outcome measure for evaluating the effect of an intervention but is still of interest. Most clinical studies have more than one secondary outcome measure.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Drinking Behavior
Time Frame: 1-week
Daily Drinking Questionnaire quantity item "most drinks on one occasion"; range 0-31; higher score = more drinking/worse outcome
1-week
Drinking Behavior
Time Frame: 1-month
Daily Drinking Questionnaire quantity item "most drinks on one occasion"; range 0-31; higher score = more drinking/worse outcome
1-month
Drinking Behavior
Time Frame: 6-months
Daily Drinking Questionnaire quantity item "most drinks on one occasion"; range 0-31; higher score = more drinking/worse outcome
6-months
Alcohol Craving
Time Frame: 1-week
Score on Desire for Alcohol Questionnaire; range = 14-98; higher scores reflect higher desire for alcohol (worse outcome)
1-week
Alcohol Craving
Time Frame: 1-month
Score on Desire for Alcohol Questionnaire; range = 14-98; higher scores reflect higher desire for alcohol (worse outcome)
1-month
Alcohol Craving
Time Frame: 6-months
Score on Desire for Alcohol Questionnaire; range = 14-98; higher scores reflect higher desire for alcohol (worse outcome)
6-months

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Sponsor

The organization or person who initiates the study and who has authority and control over the study.
Boston University Charles River Campus

Collaborators

Collaborators

An organization other than the sponsor that provides support for a clinical study. This support may include activities related to funding, design, implementation, data analysis, or reporting.
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (ACTUAL)

Study Start

The actual date on which the first participant was enrolled in a clinical study. The "anticipated" study start date is the date that the researchers think will be the study start date.
August 21, 2019

Primary Completion (ACTUAL)

Primary Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention to collect final data for the primary outcome measure. Whether the clinical study ended according to the protocol or was terminated does not affect this date. For clinical studies with more than one primary outcome measure with different completion dates, this term refers to the date on which data collection is completed for all the primary outcome measures. The "anticipated" primary completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the primary completion date for the study.
August 31, 2021

Study Completion (ACTUAL)

Study Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention/treatment to collect final data for the primary outcome measures, secondary outcome measures, and adverse events (that is, the last participant's last visit). The "anticipated" study completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the study completion date.
August 31, 2021

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

First Submitted

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submitted a study record to ClinicalTrials.gov. There is typically a delay of a few days between the first submitted date and the record's availability on ClinicalTrials.gov (the first posted date).
June 10, 2020

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submits a study record that is consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. The sponsor or investigator may need to revise and submit a study record one or more times before NLM's QC review criteria are met. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
June 10, 2020

First Posted (ACTUAL)

First Posted

The date on which the study record was first available on ClinicalTrials.gov after National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review has concluded. There is typically a delay of a few days between the date the study sponsor or investigator submitted the study record and the first posted date.
June 12, 2020

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (ACTUAL)

Last Update Posted

The most recent date on which changes to a study record were made available on ClinicalTrials.gov. There may be a delay between when the changes were submitted to ClinicalTrials.gov by the study's sponsor or investigator (the last update submitted date) and the last update posted date.
September 10, 2022

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator submitted changes to a study record that are consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
September 7, 2022

Last Verified

Last Verified

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator confirmed the information about a clinical study on ClinicalTrials.gov as accurate and current. If a study with a recruitment status of recruiting; not yet recruiting; or active, not recruiting has not been confirmed within the past 2 years, the study's recruitment status is shown as unknown.
September 1, 2022

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

Other Study ID Numbers

Identifiers or ID numbers other than the NCT number that are assigned to a clinical study by the study's sponsor, funders, or others. These numbers may include unique identifiers from other trial registries and National Institutes of Health grant numbers.
  • 4633E
  • 1F31AA025522-01A1 (NIH)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

Clinical Trials on Alcohol Drinking

Clinical Trials on Cognitive Bias Modification

Search Similar Trials

Sponsors and Collaborators

Medical Conditions

Drug Interventions

Conditions

Rare Diseases

Drug Interventions

Dietary Supplements

Sponsor/Collaborators

Locations

Cookie Settings

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. For more details carefully read our Privacy and Cookies Policy. ...>>>You can change your preferences or withdraw your consent at any time by deleting the cookies from your website or computer as described in the policy. Please accept it and choose your preferences by ticking the corresponding boxes in the "Manage Settings" section below. Please carefully read our Terms of Service before you proceed with using any part of this website.
«Manage Settings