Brief and Extended Alcohol-Cue-Exposure Effects on Craving and Attentional Bias

Past research has shown that underage college-student drinkers (UCSDs) report increased subjective craving and exhibit stronger attentional biases to alcohol following alcohol-cue exposure. To date, less research has examined whether momentary decreases in alcohol craving are associated with reductions in attentional bias. One experimental manipulation that has been used to produce within-session decreases in alcohol craving is to extend the duration of laboratory-based alcohol-cue exposure protocols. The aim of this study was to examine the effects of both brief and extended alcohol-cue exposure on subjective craving and attentional bias among UCSDs. Eighty participants were randomized either to a group that received a short, in vivo, alcohol-cue-exposure period (short-exposure group [SE], 2 3-min blocks) or to a group that received a long-exposure period (long-exposure group [LE], 6 3-min blocks). Both groups completed a visual probe task before and after cue exposure to assess changes in attentional bias. Analyses revealed no group differences in mean craving or mean attentional bias before or after cue exposure. Further, exploratory analyses revealed no sex differences in our measures of craving or attentional bias. For Group LE, but not Group SE, within-session changes in craving positively predicted within-session changes in attentional bias. However, further analyses revealed that this relationship was significant only for women in the LE group. Implications for treatments that aim to reduce craving and/or attentional bias are discussed.