Authors: Jones, Barry T.; Jones, Ben C.; Smith, Helena; Copley, Nicola

Source: Addiction, Volume 98, Number 2, February 2003 , pp. 235-244(10)

Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Abstract:

Aim 

To apply a new paradigm using transient changes to visual scenes to explore information processing biases relating to `social' levels of alcohol and cannabis use. Participants 

Male and female student volunteers (n = 200) not self-reporting substance-related problems. Setting 

Quiet testing areas throughout the university campus. Design 

A flicker paradigm, for inducing change blindness with lighter and heavier social users of alcohol (experiment 1, n= 100) and social users and non-users of cannabis (experiment 2, n= 100), explored the associations between habitual level of use and the latency to detection of a single substance-related or neutral change made to a scene of grouped substance-related and neutral objects. Measurements 

Alcohol use was measured as the number of units of the heaviest drinking day from the previous week; cannabis use as the number of months of use in previous 12. Change-detection latency comparisons were used to evaluate processing biases. Findings 

In both experiments, (i) heavier social users detected substance-related changes quicker than lighter and non-users; (ii) lighter and non-users detected substance-neutral changes quicker than heavier users; (iii) heavier social users detected substance-related quicker than substance-neutral changes; and (iv) lighter and non-users detected substance-neutral changes quicker than substance-related changes. Conclusions 

Alcohol and cannabis processing biases are found at levels of social use, have the potential to influence future consumption and for this reason merit further research.

Keywords: Alcohol; attentional bias; cannabis; change blindness; social use

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1046/j.1360-0443.2003.00270.x

Affiliations: 1: Department of Psychology, University of Glasgow and

Publication date: 2003-02-01

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