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Cue-induced auditory evoked potentials in alcoholism.

Heinze M, Wölfling K, Grüsser SM

Klinikum Bremen-Ost, Center for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Bremen, Germany.

OBJECTIVE: Conditioning processes may convert neutral stimuli to drug-associated stimuli and create an implicit drug memory. Previous studies showed specific psychophysiological reactions to alcohol-associated stimuli differentiating alcohol-dependent subjects from healthy controls. This was shown in evoked potentials using visual and olfactory alcohol-related stimuli. METHODS: Our study examined the effects of complex alcohol-associated sounds in comparison to complex neutral sounds on electrophysiological event-related potentials and the self-report of craving. We assessed 10 detoxified alcoholics and 10 healthy controls in a cue-reactivity paradigm. RESULTS: Detoxified alcoholics demonstrated significantly higher alcohol stimulus-induced late P300 and late positive complexes. Subjective baseline craving and stimulus-induced craving only differed significantly between groups in terms of the craving dimension "relief of withdrawal symptoms". CONCLUSIONS: The results show that auditory stimuli attach importance to stimulus-induced craving in alcoholics. Therapeutic consequences will be discussed. SIGNIFICANCE: The study examined for the first time the effects of alcohol-associated auditory stimuli on alcohol craving and identifies learning processes as underlying neural mechanisms which support the assumption of an implicit addiction memory in alcoholics.

Published 12 March 2007 in Clin Neurophysiol, 118(4): 856-62.
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