Increasing the Temporal Window in Individuals With Alcohol Use Disorder (RP1A)

Reinforcer Pathology 1A: Increasing the Temporal Window

Episodic future thinking (EFT) is based on the new science of prospection, which was first identified in a Science publication in 2007 and refers to pre-experiencing the future by simulation. Considerable evidence suggests that prospection is important for understanding human cognition, affect, motivation, and action. Individuals with damaged frontal areas, as well as individuals with alcohol use disorder (AUD), show deficits in planning prospectively. One systematic method to engender prospection is via EFT. EFT, as applied in our prior studies and in this proposal consists of having participants develop positive plausible future events that correspond to several future time frames (e.g., 2 weeks, 1 month, 3 months etc). For each of these timeframes participants are asked to concretize the events (e.g., What are you doing? Who will be there? What will you see, hear, smell, and feel?). We and others have used EFT to decrease delay discounting (DD) in individuals with AUD and smokers, as well as normal weight, overweight, and obese populations when compared to the control condition, control episodic thinking (CET). Consistent with reinforcer pathology, EFT also reduces alcohol valuation in the purchase task among individuals with AUD. However, no study to date has examined whether EFT reduces alcohol self-administration in the laboratory. Moreover, the neural correlates of EFT in AUD are also unknown. In these studies, we propose to test an intervention, EFT, which we hypothesize will decrease reinforcer pathology measures in a bar-like setting in the laboratory; that is, EFT will decrease delay discounting, as well as alcohol self-administration, demand, and craving compared to a control episodic thinking (CET) condition. Moreover, we hypothesize EFT will enhance activation in brain regions associated with prospection (e.g., hippocampus and amygdala) and the executive decision system (e.g., DLPFC). We will also examine the effect of EFT on real-world drinking.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Alcohol Use Disorder
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Episodic Future Thinking; Behavioral: Control Episodic Thinking

Detailed Description

In study 1, participants will be randomly assigned to experimental or control groups, stratified by AUDIT scores, SES, age and sex. Based on our 8 years of experience recruiting this population, we expect approximately 66% retention among eligible participants. Therefore, we will enroll approximately 107 participants in order to conclude with 64 completers. Participants will complete: a baseline assessment (S1), an alcohol self-administration session (S2 or S3), an fMRI session (S2 or S3). The alcohol self-administration session and the fMRI session will be completed in counterbalanced order. At the beginning of S2 and S3, participants in both groups will be prompted to generate positive events and related cues through a researcher-administered interview-based questionnaire. EFT group participants will be asked to think about and describe the most positive event that could realistically happen at each of 7 delays in the future (1 day, 1 week, 1 month, 3 months, 1 year, 5 years, and 25 years). In contrast, participants randomized to the CET condition, will be asked to think about and describe the most positive event that occurred at each of 7 time points from the recent past (last night from 7pm-10pm, yesterday between 4pm-7pm, yesterday between 1pm-4pm, yesterday from 10am-12pm, yesterday between 7am-10am, the night before last between 7pm-10pm, and evening before last between 4pm-7pm). For each time point, the participant will be asked to integrate the event and sensory information into concise textual and/or auditory cues to be used in subsequent behavioral tasks. Cue generation will occur prior to both self administration and fMRI sessions (S2 and S3) to maximize the relevancy of cues at both sessions.

In study 2, participants will complete two sessions and undergo a one-week baseline monitoring phase where they provide breath samples to assess for recent alcohol use and report their drinks per day. Following this baseline period, participants will complete an fMRI then be randomized to either the EFT or Control group. Participants will then complete two weeks of monitoring, where they provide a breath sample three times a day and report the number of drinks they consumed. Participants will then come back to the lab to generate new EFT/CET cues, then complete two more weeks of monitoring. After conclusion of the second intervention period, participants will complete a post intervention session and then a one month follow up one month after study completion.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 154
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Virginia
    • Roanoke, Virginia, United States, 24016
      • Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 21 years to 65 years (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• High-risk or harmful drinking (measured by AUDIT)
• 21-65 years of age
• Desire to quit or cut down on their drinking, but do not have proximate plans to enroll in treatment for AUD during the study period
• Report as one of their top three preferred drinks a beverage appropriate for the alcohol self-administration task (Study 1)

Exclusion Criteria:

• Moderate to severe DSM-5 criteria for substance-use disorders other than alcohol, nicotine, and/or marijuana
• Current diagnosis of any psychotic disorder
• History of seizure disorders or traumatic brain injury
• Contraindication for participation in the self-administration (Study 1) or MRI sessions (Studies 1 and 2)
• Current pregnancy or lactation.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Other
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Single

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Episodic Future Thinking (EFT); Participants will generate positive future events they are looking forward to at five time points in the future (1 day, 1 week, 1 month, 3 months, 1 year, 5 years, and 25 years). Participants will be reminded of these events using cues throughout the study and instructed to think about these cues as they make their decisions.	Behavioral: Episodic Future Thinking; Participants will generate descriptions of vivid positive future events.; Other Names: EFT
Sham Comparator: Control Episodic Thinking (CET); Participants will generate positive recent past events that have happened to them at five time points in the recent past (last night from 7pm-10pm, yesterday between 4pm-7pm, yesterday between 1pm-4pm, yesterday from 10am-12pm, yesterday between 7am-10am, the night before last between 7pm-10pm, and evening before last between 4pm-7pm). Participants will be reminded of these events using cues throughout the study and instructed to think about these cues as they make their decisions.	Behavioral: Control Episodic Thinking; Participants will generate descriptions of vivid positive recent past events.; Other Names: CET

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Delay Discounting (DD) Rates (Studies 1 and 2)	DD rates were measured using an adjusting amount task where participants were presented with hypothetical choices between smaller immediate or larger later amounts of money after a range of delays (1 day-25 years). Individual indifference points were calculated for each delay and then used to estimate DD rates for each participant using Mazur's (1987) equation: V = A/(1+kD), where V is the value of the indifference point, A is the amount of the larger delayed reward, k is the discounting rate, and D is the delay. Discounting rates (k) were then natural-logarithmically transformed (ln(k)). Higher ln(k) indicates steeper discounting and greater reward devaluation with increases in delay, while a lower ln(k) reflects shallower discounting and less reward devaluation with increases in delay. Change in ln(k) will be compared within-subjects between S1 and S2, AND between S1 and S3.	Pre-intervention (S1; baseline measures; Day 1), Post 1st cue generation: S2 (occurs up to 7 days post S1 in Study 1 and 2-3 weeks post S1 in Study 2), and Post 2nd cue generation: S3 (occurs up to 7 days post S2 in Study 1 and 2 weeks post S2 in Study 2)
Intensity of Alcohol Demand (Study 2)	Participants completed a hypothetical Alcohol Purchase Task in which they indicated how many drinks they would purchase at different prices ($0 to $80 per drink). The number of drinks purchased at $0 was used to calculate the intensity of demand. Changes in intensity of alcohol demand were compared within-subjects between S1 and S2, AND between S1 and S3.	Pre-intervention (S1; baseline measure; Day 1), Post 1st cue generation, (S2; approximately 2 weeks post S1), and Post 2nd cue generation (S3; approximately 2 weeks post S2 and 4 weeks post S1)
In-Laboratory Alcohol Consumption (Study 1)	The number of alcoholic beverages purchased/consumed during the self-administration session will be recorded. The average number of drinks consumed will be compared between groups.	Self-Administration session will occur at either Session 2 or Session 3 based on counterbalance assignment. S2 occurs up to 7 days post S1 and S3 occurs up to 7 days post S2.
fMRI Hyper-connectivity Decrease During Delay Discounting (Study 1)	Measured using fMRI during delay discounting task. Whole-brain PPI analysis of right DLPFC between EFT and CET participants. We examined the number of participants whose Right DLPFC was negatively correlated with their Left DLPFC after the intervention. We hypothesize that AUD leads to hyperconnectivity (positive correlations) between these two regions as a compensatory decision-making mechanism, and that EFT should reduce or reverse this connectivity relationship	fMRI session occurred at either Session 2 or Session 3 based on counterbalance assignment. S2 occurred up to 7 days post S1 and S3 occurred up to 7 days post S2.
fMRI Hyper-connectivity Decrease During Alcohol Purchase Task (Study 1)	Measured using fMRI during the alcohol purchase task. Whole-brain PPI analysis of right DLPFC between EFT and CET participants. We examined the number of participants whose Right DLPFC was negatively correlated with their Left DLPFC after the intervention. We hypothesize that AUD leads to hyperconnectivity (positive correlations) between these two regions as a compensatory decision-making mechanism, and that EFT should reduce or reverse this connectivity relationship	fMRI session occurred at either Session 2 or Session 3 based on counterbalance assignment. S2 occurred up to 7 days post S1 and S3 occurred up to 7 days post S2.
Change in Alcoholic Drinks Per Day (Study 2)	Participants self-reported the number of drinks consumed per day via a mobile app during the first five weeks of the study. The first week measured baseline drinking (Pre-intervention), weeks 2-3 measured drinking after the first cue generation (Post 1st cue generation), and weeks 4-5 measured drinking after the second cue generation (Post 2nd cue generation) The number of drinks per day was compared within-subjects and between groups (EFT and CET).	Daily during Pre-intervention (week 1); Post 1st cue generation (weeks 2-3); and Post 2nd cue generation (weeks 4-5).

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
• Collaborators: National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA); McMaster University; Carilion Clinic; University of Kentucky; Arizona State University
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Stephen M LaConte, PhD, Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): November 13, 2020
• Primary Completion (Actual): August 28, 2024
• Study Completion (Actual): September 30, 2024

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: October 9, 2019
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: October 10, 2019
• First Posted (Actual): October 14, 2019

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): January 23, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: January 22, 2026
• Last Verified: January 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Functional MRI; Alcohol Craving; Delay Discounting; Self-Administration; Behavioral Economic Demand; Episodic Future Thinking
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Mental Disorders; Substance-Related Disorders; Chemically-Induced Disorders; Alcohol-Related Disorders; Alcoholism
• Other Study ID Numbers: RP1A / 20-015 / 22-358; R01AA027381-01A1 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: YES

IPD Plan Description

Investigators will adhere to all NIH requirements regarding data sharing. Participant data collected in this project will be de-identified and made available on a shared secured data repository. We will also share the analysis results. As part of this process, all investigators will be required to agree to the following conditions: 1) will adhere to the reporting responsibilities; 2) will not redistribute the data beyond the requesting individual and named collaborators; 3) will give appropriate acknowledgement; 4) will not use the data for commercial purposes; and 5) will obtain appropriate ethical approvals.

Results from research conducted will be shared and disseminated, including: regular project meetings, annual meetings, symposia, workshops, and/or conferences for related groups. Manuscripts will be written and submitted for publication in peer-reviewed journals/conferences, following the NIH Public Access Policy guidelines. All necessary ethical approvals will be obtained.

• IPD Sharing Time Frame: Data will be made available upon request after dissemination of results.
• IPD Sharing Access Criteria: Data requests will be reviewed by the principal investigator and data will be shared with the expectation of acknowledgment of funding source and primary study team.

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No
• product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.: No