Yale University

A Critical Review of the Literature on Attentional Bias in Cocaine Use Disorder and Suggestions for Future Research.

TitleA Critical Review of the Literature on Attentional Bias in Cocaine Use Disorder and Suggestions for Future Research.
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2014
AuthorsLeeman, Robert F., Cendrine D. Robinson, Andrew J. Waters, and Mehmet Sofuoglu
JournalExperimental and clinical psychopharmacology
Date Published2014 Sep 15
ISSN1936-2293
AbstractCocaine use disorder (CUD) continues to be an important public health problem, and novel approaches are needed to improve the effectiveness of treatments for CUD. Recently, there has been increased interest in the role of automatic cognition such as attentional bias (AB) in addictive behaviors, and AB has been proposed to be a cognitive marker for addictions. Automatic cognition may be particularly relevant to CUD, as there is evidence for particularly robust AB to cocaine cues and strong relationships to craving for cocaine and other illicit drugs. Further, the wide-ranging cognitive deficits (e.g., in response inhibition and working memory) evinced by many cocaine users enhance the potential importance of interventions targeting automatic cognition in this population. In the current article, we discuss relevant addiction theories, followed by a review of studies that examined AB in CUD. We then consider the neural substrates of AB, including human neuroimaging, neurobiological, and pharmacological studies. We conclude with a discussion of research gaps and future directions for AB in CUD. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved).
Alternate JournalExp Clin Psychopharmacol

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