Inhibitory Control and Impulsivity Levels in Women Crack Users.

OBJECTIVE: investigate impulsivity levels and inhibitory control in women crack users and explore the relationships between impulsivity and inhibitory control. METHOD AND DESIGN: 52 healthy women (M = 32.83 years; SD = 9.54) and 46 crack cocaine users (M = 31.02 years; SD = 7.73), in abstinence, performed the assessment protocol included a Sociodemographic Data Questionnaire, Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), a GO/No-Go Task and the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale-11 (BIS-11). It was a quantitative research with cross-sectional design and control group. RESULTS: crack group showed higher levels of impulsivity in all domains when compared to the control group (crack group M = 76.39, SD = 11.39, control group M = 58.53, SD = 10.76, p <.01). Participants from the crack group presented a significantly higher total reaction time in the Go-NoGo task (F(1,93) = 9.93, p =.002; effect size =.09, observed power =.87) and significantly more commission (F(1,93) = 7.20, p =.009; effect size =.07, observed power =.75) and omission errors (F(1,93) = 6.04, p =.01; effect size =.06, observed power =.68), in Go/NoGo Task. Groups did also significantly differ on total standard deviations suggesting that variability in total reaction time was significantly greater in the crack group. Results showed that only in the crack group there were significant correlations between Go-NoGo parameters and Barratt Impulsiveness Scale. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings are consistent that impulsivity and inhibitory control are closely linked to crack use in women. Future studies should consider to evaluate crack users in different withdrawal times, controlling the impact of abstinence time in the variables studied.

Resolução de labirintos e tarefa agir/não agir na avaliação atentiva / Solving mazes and go/nogo task in attentive assessment

Os processos atentivos são fundamentais para o controle do comportamento e para o planejamento da ação. Este estudo investigou uma possível relação no desempenho de participantes (n=20) sem queixas clínicas na resolução de labirintos e na execução de um teste computadorizado de desempenho contínuo (Agir/Não Agir). O desempenho dos participantes foi analisado em termos de possíveis relações significativas entre o tempo médio de resolução dos labirintos e o tempo médio na execução da tarefa Agir/Não Agir, bem como uma possível relação entre os tipos de erros cometidos nas duas tarefas. Os resultados sugerem uma relação significativa entre o tempo de execução das duas tarefas e uma correlação entre a frequência de toques nos limites dos labirintos e a quantidade de erros de comissão cometidos em uma tarefa Agir/Não Agir. Esses resultados são discutidos em termos de possíveis marcadores comportamentais de ações impulsivas. (AU)

Attentive processes are critical to behavior control and action planning. The present study investigated a possible relationship in the performance of participants (n=20) without clinical complaints in solving mazes and in a computerized continuous performance test (Go/NoGo). The performance of participants was analyzed in terms of possible significant relationships between average time in the resolution of mazes and average time in implementing the Go/NoGo task, as well as a possible relationship between types of errors in both tasks. The results suggest a significant relationship between the runtime of both tasks and correlation between the frequency of touches at the limits of mazes and the amount of commission errors committed in Go/NoGo task. These results are discussed in terms of possible behavioral markers of impulsive actions. (AU)