Self-control as measured by delay discounting is greater among successful weight losers than controls.

Long-term weight loss maintenance is likely to require strong self-control in order to sustain changes in behavior patterns. We, therefore, tested the hypothesis that those who have successfully maintained weight loss may have superior self-control compared to control participants. Self-control was assessed using a delay discounting task through a webbased assessment of members of the National Weight Control Registry (NWCR: N = 757; non-obese = 605; obese = 152) and control participants (Control N = 443; nonobese = 236; obese = 207) from Amazon's Mechanical Turk. Both NWCR members that were currently obese (t = 5.42, p < 0.001) and nonobese (t = 5.28, p < 0.001) discounted the future less than control participants with comparable weight statuses. These results are indicative of higher levels of self-control behaviors in individuals that have lost and successfully maintained weight loss. Thus, successful weight losers may exhibit stronger self-control, as measured through discounting of future rewards, However, further research is needed to determine whether strong selfcontrol enables individuals to succeed at weight loss maintenance or develops as a consequence.

To drink or to drink less? Distinguishing between effects of implementation intentions on decisions to drink and how much to drink in treatment-seeking individuals with alcohol use disorder.

INTRODUCTION: For many people with alcohol use disorders, alcohol drinking is a highly ingrained and automatized behavior with negative long-term health consequences. Implementation intentions, a behavioral intervention that links high-risk drinking situations with alternative, healthier responses, provide a means to intervene on habitual drinking behaviors. Here, a pilot treatment using implementation intentions was assessed with remote assessments and treatment prompts. METHODS: Treatment-seeking individuals with alcohol use disorder between the ages of 18 and 65 were recruited from the community from October 2014 to November 2016. Participants (N=35) were quasi-randomly assigned to complete either active (n=18) or control (n=17) two-week implementation intention interventions. Active implementation intentions linked high-risk situations with alternative responses whereas the control condition selected situations and responses but did not link these together. Daily ecological momentary interventions of participant-tailored implementation intentions were delivered via text message. Alcohol consumption was assessed once daily with self-reported ecological momentary assessments (EMAs) of drinks consumed the previous day and thrice daily remotely submitted breathalyzer samples to assess reliability of self-reports. RESULTS: On drinking days (80% of days), the active implementation intentions group reduced alcohol consumption during the intervention period compared to the control condition; however the difference between consumption was not observed at one-month follow-up. DISCUSSION: The implementation intention intervention was associated with a 1.09 drink per day decrease in alcohol consumption on drinking days compared to a decrease of 0.29 drinks per day in the control condition. Future studies may combine implementation intentions with other treatments to help individuals to reduce alcohol consumption.

Cross-commodity delay discounting of alcohol and money in alcohol users.

Despite real-world implications, the pattern of delay discounting in alcohol users when the commodities now and later differ has not been well characterized. In this study, 60 participants on Amazon's Mechanical Turk completed the Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (AUDIT) to assess severity of use and completed four delay discounting tasks between hypothetical, equivalent amounts of alcohol and money available at five delays. The tasks included two cross-commodity (alcohol now-money later and money now-alcohol later) and two same-commodity (money now-money later and alcohol now-alcohol later) conditions. Delay discounting was significantly associated with clinical cutoffs of the AUDIT for both of the cross-commodity conditions but not for either of the same-commodity delay discounting tasks. The cross-commodity discounting conditions were related to severity of use wherein heavy users discounted future alcohol less and future money more. The change in direction of the discounting effect was dependent on the commodity that was distally available suggesting a distinctive pattern of discounting across commodities when comparing light and heavy alcohol users.

Toward a laboratory model for psychotherapeutic treatment screening: Implementation intentions and incentives for abstinence in an analog of smoking relapse.

Despite reductions in cigarette smoking in the United States, approximately 40 million Americans are smokers. Innovative interventions are needed to help remaining smokers quit. To develop innovative interventions, precise and effective tools are needed. Here, a laboratory model of smoking relapse is assessed for its ability to detect increased resistance to smoking across 2 interventions and for its sensitivity to differing degrees of effectiveness. Nicotine-deprived participants (N = 36) completed, in randomized order, 4 smoking resistance sessions with and without implementation intentions and monetary incentives. A Cox proportional hazard mixed-effects model indicated significant differences between condition, χ²(3) = 64.87, p < .001, and the Questionnaire on Smoking Urges, χ²(1) = 4.86, p = .03. Comparisons between conditions were used to estimate the effect size of each condition on delay to smoking reinitiation. The implementation intentions intervention had a small effect (d = 0.32), the monetary incentives had a large effect (d = 0.89) and the combination of both interventions had a large effect size (d = 1.20). This initial investigation of the smoking resistance paradigm showed sensitivity to smoking reinitiation across intervention conditions. Individuals resisted smoking significantly more in the presence of monetary incentives and implementation intentions than without these interventions. These results provide support for further examination of these interventions in more translational settings and the use of this laboratory analog to screen future interventions and treatment packages. (PsycINFO Database Record

Neurocognitive dysfunction in addiction: Testing hypotheses of diffuse versus selective phenotypic dysfunction with a classification-based approach.

Neurocognitive dysfunctions are frequently identified in the addictions. These dysfunctions may indicate either diffuse dysfunction or may represent separate facets that have differential importance to the addiction phenotype. In a sample (n = 260) of alcohol and/or stimulant users and controls we measured responses across 7 diverse neurocognitive measures. These measures were Continuous Performance, Delay Discounting, Iowa Gambling, Stroop, Tower, Wisconsin Card Sorting, and Letter Number Sequencing. Comparisons were then made between the drug-dependent groups and controls using analysis of variance and also using a machine learning approach to classify participants based on task performance as substance-dependent or controls in 1 tree and as alcohol and/or stimulant users or controls in a second tree. The analysis of variance showed significant differences between groups on the Delay Discounting (p < .001), Iowa Gambling (p < .001), Letter Number Sequencing (p < .001), and Wisconsin Card Sorting (p < .05) tasks. The first classification tree correctly classified between substance-dependent or controls for 88.3% of participants and classified between alcohol and/or stimulant users or controls for 63.9% of participants. Delay discounting was the first split in both trees and in the substance-dependent and control tree. The analysis of variance results largely replicate previous findings. The machine learning classification tree analysis provides evidence to support the hypothesis that different measures of neurocognitive dysfunction represent different processes. Among them, delay discounting was the most robust in categorizing drug dependence. (PsycINFO Database Record