Multisensory Processing of Alcohol Cues in Young Adult Binge Drinkers

NCT06885190 | Not Yet Recruiting

• 2 other identifiers: SRS00020124R15AA031579-01A1
• Study Type: observational
• Target: 100
• Locations: 0 countries
• Sites: N/A

Brief Summary

Binge drinking is common among young adults and is related to many negative health outcomes including blackouts, risky sex, drunk driving, alcohol use disorder, and liver disease. Understanding whether there are differences in how binge drinkers respond to alcohol-related cues and whether this is related to craving is important for improving interventions and treatments. The proposed study will compare behavioral and neural processing of alcohol and non-alcohol cues in a single sensory modality (vision) with that of cues presented in multiple sensory modalities (vision, touch, and smell) with varying degrees of realistic appearance (images, virtual reality, real objects). Participants will answer questionnaires related to their physical and mental health and recent alcohol and drug use. Those eligible for the study will complete two in-person lab sessions. During both sessions they will be asked to view a series of cues which will include images on a computer screen, objects presented in virtual reality, or real objects. Sometimes these will be presented just visually and other times they will be combined with the presentation of specific smells or an object to touch. Some of these cues will be alcohol-related and others will be neutral (non-alcohol-related). Brainwave activity, as measured by the electroencephalogram (EEG), and reports of alcohol craving will be collected during these sessions. It is expected that brainwave activity will be greatest in response to multisensory cues compared to that in response unisensory (visual only) cues. It is also expected that young adults with a recent history of binge drinking will show the greatest brainwave activity in response to multisensory alcohol cues compared to social drinkers. Binge drinkers will also report more alcohol craving in response to multisensory alcohol cues compared to social drinkers. It is anticipated that brainwave responses will increase as the level of realism of the cues increases. Binge drinkers will also show stronger brainwave and craving responses to multisensory alcohol cues presented as real objects. Finally, binge drinkers will show lessened brain and craving responses when multisensory cues do not match compared to social drinkers. For example, if a photo shows an alcoholic drink but the smell presented is not alcohol related, binge drinkers will show less attentive brain activity toward those mismatched cues. Given that most alcohol cues in daily life are experienced across multiple senses simultaneously, results of this research will provide a better understanding of the relation between alcohol cue processing and craving, and will inform development of more effective programs for decreasing young adult risky drinking behavior.

Conditions

Drinking, Binge

Keywords

alcohol; young adult; multisensory; cues; event-related potentials; virtual reality

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Event-related Potential Amplitudes in Response to Alcohol and Neutral Cues

  Amplitude (magnitude) of electrocortical activity assessed in response to alcohol-related and neutral cues presented either visually or in visual-olfactory or visual-tactile combinations.

  Baseline and follow-up (within 1 week)

Study Arms (2)

Young Adult Binge Drinkers

Participants ages 18 to 25 with a history of binge drinking (at least 2 episodes of 5+ standard drinks per episode for males/4+ standard drinks per episode for females) in the past month and at least 4+/3+ (males/females) score on the Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test.

Young Adult Social Drinkers

Participants ages 18 to 25 who report drinking alcohol at least once in the past month but no current history of a binge pattern (i.e., 2 or fewer drinks per episode) AND score less than 4/3 (males/females) on the Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test.

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years - 25 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64)
• Sampling Method: Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Participants will be recruited via social media advertisements, fliers posted on college campuses and in the community, and a departmental research participants group.

You may qualify if:

• ages 18 to 25 years old
• meet criteria for either the binge drinker or social drinker groups previously described

You may not qualify if:

• history of head injury involving loss of consciousness of 10+ minutes
• colorblindness
• hearing, tactile, olfactory or uncorrected vision deficits
• history of seizures
• neurological disorder diagnosis
• mental health history of psychosis or mania
• history of alcohol or substance use disorder diagnosis
• illicit drug use in the past 30 days
• changes to psychotropic medication type or dose in past 3 months

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Rochester Institute of Technology: lead
• National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA): collaborator

Related Publications (5)

• Hill-Bowen LD, Riedel MC, Poudel R, Salo T, Flannery JS, Camilleri JA, Eickhoff SB, Laird AR, Sutherland MT. The cue-reactivity paradigm: An ensemble of networks driving attention and cognition when viewing drug and natural reward-related stimuli. Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2021 Nov;130:201-213. doi: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2021.08.010. Epub 2021 Aug 13.

  PMID: 34400176 BACKGROUND

• Connor JP, Kavanagh DJ, Andrade J, May J, Feeney GF, Gullo MJ, White AM, Fry ML, Drennan J, Previte J, Tjondronegoro D. Alcohol consumption in young adults: the role of multisensory imagery. Addict Behav. 2014 Mar;39(3):721-4. doi: 10.1016/j.addbeh.2013.11.023. Epub 2013 Dec 4.

  PMID: 24360399 BACKGROUND

• Kiyak C, Simonetti ME, Norton S, Deluca P. The efficacy of cue exposure therapy on alcohol use disorders: A quantitative meta-analysis and systematic review. Addict Behav. 2023 Apr;139:107578. doi: 10.1016/j.addbeh.2022.107578. Epub 2022 Dec 12.

  PMID: 36563480 BACKGROUND

• Mellentin AI, Skot L, Nielsen B, Schippers GM, Nielsen AS, Stenager E, Juhl C. Cue exposure therapy for the treatment of alcohol use disorders: A meta-analytic review. Clin Psychol Rev. 2017 Nov;57:195-207. doi: 10.1016/j.cpr.2017.07.006. Epub 2017 Jul 27.

  PMID: 28781153 BACKGROUND

• Hone-Blanchet A, Wensing T, Fecteau S. The use of virtual reality in craving assessment and cue-exposure therapy in substance use disorders. Front Hum Neurosci. 2014 Oct 17;8:844. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2014.00844. eCollection 2014.

  PMID: 25368571 BACKGROUND

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Binge Drinking

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Alcohol-Related Disorders; Substance-Related Disorders; Chemically-Induced Disorders; Alcohol Drinking; Drinking Behavior; Behavior; Mental Disorders

Study Officials

• Rebecca J Houston, PhD

  Rochester Institute of Technology

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Central Study Contacts

Rebecca J Houston, PhD

CONTACT

585-475-5205; rjhgss@rit.edu

Elena Fedorovskaya, PhD

CONTACT

585-475-6952; eafppr@rit.edu

Study Design

• Study Type: observational
• Observational Model: CASE CONTROL
• Time Perspective: CROSS SECTIONAL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Associate Professor

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: March 13, 2025
• First Posted: March 20, 2025
• Study Start: September 1, 2025
• Primary Completion (Estimated): November 1, 2026
• Study Completion (Estimated): February 1, 2027
• Last Updated: March 24, 2025

Record last verified: 2025-03

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share