Citation

Kumar R, Kumar KJ, Benegal V. Asian J. Psychiatry 2018; 35: 38-44.

Affiliation

Department of Psychiatry, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS), 560029, Bangalore, India. Electronic address: vbenegal@gmail.com.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.ajp.2018.05.006

PMID

29775836

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: Offspring with family history of alcoholism are considered to be at high risk for alcoholism. The present study sought to expand our understanding of cognitive and behavioural dispositions associated with executive control and self-regulation in alcohol naïve offspring with and without family history of alcoholism.

METHODS: Sample comprised of alcohol naive offspring in two groups: (i) at high risk (n = 34) and (ii) at low risk for alcoholism (n = 34). Both groups were matched on age (+/-1 year), education (+/-1 year) and gender. Measures used were: Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview, Family Interview for Genetic Studies, Socio-demographic Data Sheet, Annett's Handedness Questionnaire, Barratt's Impulsiveness Scale-version 11, Digit Span Test, Spatial Span Test, Tower of London, Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) and Game of Dice Task (GDT).

RESULTS: Results showed that alcohol naive offspring at high risk for alcoholism reported significantly high impulsivity and demonstrated significant differences on executive functions and decision making tasks. Correlation analysis revealed that high impulsivity was significantly associated with poor performance on explicit decision making task (GDT) and executive function task (WCST). There was no significant correlation between two decision making tasks (IGT and GDT) in both groups and performance on IGT was not significantly associated with impulsivity and executive functions.

CONCLUSIONS: The present study indicates cognitive and behavioural dispositions in alcohol naive offspring at high risk for alcoholism and support the sub-optimal balance between reflective and impulsive system responsible for addiction. Furthermore, present study supports separability between two different types of decision making tasks.

Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Language: en

Keywords

Alcoholism; Decision making; Executive functions; Impulsivity; Offspring