Attenuation of response to drug-related cues in male heroin abstainers is modulated by cognitive control mechanisms.

ABSTRACT

Background: Many research studies reveal that both attentional bias and impaired cognitive control significantly influence heroin addiction. However, limited research has been conducted into how the interplay between attentional bias and cognitive control modulates heroin-seeking behavior. Objectives: A modified version of the flanker task was used to investigate whether attentional bias to drug-related stimuli is modulated by cognitive control mechanisms among heroin users. Methods: Sixty participants (30 male heroin users during their abstinence period and 30 normal controls) responded to the direction of the middle arrow, while ignoring the adjacent arrow and the pictures (drug-related cues and neutral cues) presented as part of the task. Results: The abstinent heroin users had a significantly larger flanker effect under drug-related cues compared to neutral cues, whereas the control group showed no such trend. This effect was primarily influenced by increased reaction times in the presence of drug-related cues relative to neutral cues in the incongruent condition among abstinent heroin users, but not in the control group. Conclusions/Importance Among abstinent heroin users, attentional bias to drug-related cues was moderated by attentional control. Further, high cognitive control demand was found to reduce heroin users' ability to resist attentional capture from salient, but irrelevant, drug-related information, which may contribute to compulsive drug-seeking behavior and relapse in heroin users.