Alcohol detoxification is accompanied by sustained difficulties in sleep initiation and maintenan... more Alcohol detoxification is accompanied by sustained difficulties in sleep initiation and maintenance. These difficulties are thought to be an important cause of relapse to alcohol use. However, the treatment of sleep problems with hypnotic drug is made difficult by cross-tolerance between benzodiazepines and alcohol. In this report, we evaluated the capacity of trazodone (TRZ), a second-generation antidepressant with anxiolytic and sedative properties, to increase the sleep efficiency in alcohol-dependent patients after detoxification. Sixteen patients completed the TRZ (n = 8) or the placebo (PL; n = 8) treatment arms. Polysomnographies were performed at baseline, after the 1st drug dose, and after 4 weeks of treatment. The main outcome was sleep efficiency. Secondary outcomes included changes in other sleep parameters, Hamilton Depression Rating and Clinical Global Impression scales. Sleep efficiency was increased in the TRZ group when it was computed after sleep onset, both immedi...
This paper will discuss rationality and ethics in the thought of Alasdair MacIntyre. Like other c... more This paper will discuss rationality and ethics in the thought of Alasdair MacIntyre. Like other communitarian thinkers, tradition is the keyword in his thinking. MacIntyre's rationality and ethics are tradition-based rationality and ethics. The return of tradition in the debate of rationality and ethics is a critique of the Enlightenment project which assumes that tradition is irrational. But MacIntyre also disagrees with the post-enlightenment argument with a relativist and perspective tendency. However the rationality and ethics proposed by MacIntyre still has a certain principle of objectivity. Used in contemporary realities, including in Indonesia, Alasdair Macintyre's thought is useful for understanding political identity critically.
DI-fusion, le Dépôt institutionnel numérique de l'ULB, est l'outil de référencementde l... more DI-fusion, le Dépôt institutionnel numérique de l'ULB, est l'outil de référencementde la production scientifique de l'ULB.L'interface de recherche DI-fusion permet de consulter les publications des chercheurs de l'ULB et les thèses qui y ont été défendues.
Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 1991
Noradrenergic neurons have been implicated in the development of ethanol dependence and tolerance... more Noradrenergic neurons have been implicated in the development of ethanol dependence and tolerance. Moreover, the development of an hyposensitivity of alpha 2 adrenoceptors has been postulated during long-term exposition to ethanol. In order to test the putative role of alpha 2 receptors in ethanol intoxication, we have studied the interaction between ethanol and yohimbine, an alpha 2 antagonist, on the spontaneous firing rate of rat locus coeruleus (LC) in an in vitro slice model. The spikes from single neurons were recorded by glass microelectrodes. Ethanol at 100 mM, a concentration that parallels the behavioral effects in the human and in the animals, inhibits the firing activity of some LC cells. This inhibition was quickly reversed after stopping the ethanol perfusion and was observed for each further administration. However, if yohimbine (20 microM) was simultaneously perfused, the ethanol-induced inhibition was rapidly antagonized. This effect is reversible after long time washout of yohimbine. This suggests that alpha 2 adrenoceptors could be implicated in the inhibitory effect of ethanol on LC noradrenergic neurons and perhaps in the development of tolerance. However, other hypotheses are discussed, because yohimbine can also antagonize other types of receptors.
Alcohol dependence constitutes a serious worldwide public health problem. The last few decades ha... more Alcohol dependence constitutes a serious worldwide public health problem. The last few decades have seen many pharmacological studies devoted to the improvement of alcoholism treatment. Although psychosocial treatments (e.g. individual or group therapy) have historically been the mainstay of alcoholism treatment, a successful approach for alcohol dependence consists in associating pharmacologic medications with therapy, as 40-70% of patients following only psychosocial therapy typically resume alcohol use within a year of post-detoxification treatment. Nowadays, two main pharmacological options, naltrexone and acomprosate, both approved by the US Food and Drug Administration, are available and seemingly improve on the results yielded by standard techniques employed in the management of alcoholism. However, insufficient data exist to confirm the superiority of one drug over the other, and research is ongoing to determine what type of alcoholdependent individual benefits the most from using either medication. Available data on the application of both drugs clearly suggest different practical applications. Thus, a fundamental question remains as to how we can identify which alcoholic patients are likely to benefit from the use of naltrexone, acamprosate or both, and which are not. The aim of the present manuscript is to suggest the use of cognitive event-related potentials as an interesting way to identify subgroups of alcoholic patients displaying specific clinical symptoms and cognitive disturbances. We propose that this may help clinicians to improve their treatment of alcoholic patients by focusing therapy on individual cognitive disturbances, and by adapting the pharmaceutical approach to the specific needs of the patient. -page 10, "They showed that a lateral occipital." : The authors should specify who "they" refer to.
Alcohol consumption has been known to affect behavior and cognition. In this paper, we review evi... more Alcohol consumption has been known to affect behavior and cognition. In this paper, we review evidence for the idea that alcohol disrupts two important cognitive processes critical to flexible interaction with a changing environment: the individual’s ability to successfully and intentionally inhibit or suppress a prepotent response, and to detect the occurrence of an error. In compromising an individual’s ability to withhold a prepotent response and in attenuating the brain’s capacity to detect action slips, the consumption of alcohol may also prevent the mobilization of further flexible executive control in response to environmental prompts (e.g., to stop drinking when intending to drive a car). Individual differences in these cognitive processes prior to or following the ingestion of alcohol are also discussed.
To test the generalized emotional decoding impairment hypothesis in alcoholism. Design Cross-sect... more To test the generalized emotional decoding impairment hypothesis in alcoholism. Design Cross-sectional behavioural study comparing emotion recognition conveyed by faces, voices and musical excerpts. Setting Alcohol detoxification unit of Brugmann University Hospital. Participants Twenty-five recently detoxified alcohol-dependent patients were compared to 25 normal controls matched for sex, age and educational level. Measurements From faces, voices and musical excerpts, participants were instructed to rate the intensity of several emotions on a scale from 0 for 'absent' to 9 for 'highly present'. Depression, anxiety and sustained/selective attention capacities were controlled for. Findings Alcohol-dependent patients were less accurate than controls in identifying the target emotion in faces (P < 0.001), voices (P < 0.001) and musical excerpts (P < 0.001). Conclusions Alcohol-dependent patients who are completing detoxification are impaired in recognizing emotions conveyed by faces, voices and music; these results suggest a generalized emotional decoding impairment. Hypothetically, deficits in the fronto-parietal mirror neurone system could link all these disturbances together.
To study cognitive biases for alcohol-related cues on executive function tasks involving mental f... more To study cognitive biases for alcohol-related cues on executive function tasks involving mental flexibility and response inhibition in polysubstance abusers with alcoholism. Design The responses to alcohol-related cues of detoxified polysubstance abusers with alcoholism and of non-addicts were compared.
To study the 'social brain' in alcoholics by investigating social contract reasoning, theory of m... more To study the 'social brain' in alcoholics by investigating social contract reasoning, theory of mind and emotional intelligence. Design A behavioral study comparing recently detoxified alcoholics with normal, healthy controls. Setting Emotional intelligence and decoding of emotional non-verbal cues have been shown to be impaired in alcoholics. This study explores whether these deficits extend to conditional reasoning about social contracts. Participants Twenty-five recently detoxified alcoholics (17 men and eight women) were compared with 25 normal controls (17 men and eight women) matched for sex, age and education level. Measurements Wason selection task investigating conditional reasoning on three different rule types (social contract, precautionary and descriptive), revised Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test, Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire (modified version) and additional control measures. Findings Conditional reasoning was impaired in alcoholics. Performance on descriptive rules was not above chance. Reasoning performance was markedly better on social contract and precautionary rules, but this performance was still significantly lower than in controls. Several emotional intelligence measures were lower in alcoholics compared to controls, but these were not correlated with reasoning performance. Conclusions Conditional reasoning, including reasoning about social contracts and emotional intelligence appear to be impaired in alcoholics. Impairment seems to be particularly severe on descriptive rules. Impairment in social contract reasoning might lead to misunderstandings and frustration in social interactions, and reasoning difficulties about precautionary rules might contribute to risky behaviors in this population.
Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a technique used for investigation of the tics, when r... more Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a technique used for investigation of the tics, when repeatedly applied, has a therapeutic potential, notably in psychiatry. The physiological and neuroendocrine effects induced by repeated TMS treatment in an animal model are similar to those caused by antidepressants in man. In particular, TMS appears to modify the release of neuromediators (serotonin, dopamine) involved in
Background and aims The “process-model” of self-control proposes that the ego-depletion effect is... more Background and aims The “process-model” of self-control proposes that the ego-depletion effect is better explained by a switch between interest in “have-to” labor and cognitive “want-to” leisure, rather than being mainly due to a decrease in cognitive resources, as advanced by the “strength-model” of self-control. However, it is currently difficult to disentangle the “process-model” from the “strength-model” of self-control. Here, we employed a stepwise approach, featuring three studies, for testing the process model of self-control. Methods In Study 1, we created a list of 30 self-control events for characterizing “have-to” conducts in the daily life. In Study 2, mental visualization of effortful self-control events (“have-to”) and monetary risk-taking (“want-to”) were employed for testing the strength-model of self-control. In Study 3, to test the process-model of self-control, participants were simply required to read self-control (or neutral) sentences. Results Study 1 provided ...
Inhibitory control, a process deeply studied in laboratory settings, refers to the ability to inh... more Inhibitory control, a process deeply studied in laboratory settings, refers to the ability to inhibit an action once it has been initiated. A common way to process data in such tasks is to take the mean response time (RT) and error rate per participant. However, such an analysis ignores the strong dependency between spontaneous RT variations and error rate. Conditional accuracy function (CAF) is of particular interest, as by plotting the probability of a response to be correct as a function of its latency, it provides a means for studying the strength of impulsive responses associated with a higher frequency of fast response errors. This procedure was applied to a recent set of data in which the right inferior frontal gyrus (rIFG) was modulated using transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS). Healthy participants (n = 40) were presented with a "Go/No-go" task (click on letter M, not on letter W, session 1). Then, one subgroup (n = 20) was randomly assigned to one 20-m...
This article describes a study protocol, which aims to explore and describe the feasibility of a ... more This article describes a study protocol, which aims to explore and describe the feasibility of a mobile-phone application for initiating intuitive eating and intuitive exercising in patients who are following an ambulatory treatment for obesity. Intuitive eating refers to one's ability to make food choices based on one's awareness of his/her body's response. Intuitive exercising encourages people in finding enjoyable ways of being physically active. These two components will be trained using an implementation intention procedure, that is, behavioral plans that aim at creating a strong link between a specified situation and a response. We aim to recruit up to 80 overweight and obese patients over a period of 2 years. The smartphone application will be assessed on the basis of (i) data obtained through a 4-week use period, (ii) self-report measures taken before and after the use of the mobile application, and (iii) feedbacks from participants after the use of the mobile ap...
We examined proactive (early restraint in preparation for stopping) and reactive (late correction... more We examined proactive (early restraint in preparation for stopping) and reactive (late correction to stop ongoing action) motor response inhibition in two groups of participants: professional athletes ( n = 28) and nonathletes ( n = 25). We recruited the elite athletes from Belgian national taekwondo and fencing teams. We estimated proactive and reactive inhibition with a modified version of the stop-signal task (SST) in which participants inhibited categorizing left/right arrows. The probability of the stop signal was manipulated across blocks of trials by providing probability cues from the background computer screen color (green = 0%, yellow =17%, orange = 25%, red = 33%). Participants performed two sessions of the SST, where proactive inhibition was operationalized with increased go-signal reaction time as a function of increased stop-signal probability and reactive inhibition was indicated by stop-signal reaction time latency. Athletes exhibited higher reactive inhibition perfo...
Aim: To investigate pro-inflammatory markers in the blood and associate with cognitive impairment... more Aim: To investigate pro-inflammatory markers in the blood and associate with cognitive impairment. Methods:: Il-6 and ferritin were assayed in the blood of 27 patients, divided according to Lesch typology, at the commencement and after 21 days of detoxification, together with a battery of cognitive tests. Results: A significantly higher mean level of IL-6 was present in the blood of patients with Lesch typology 1 compared to the other typologies 2 and 3 on admission to the Detoxification Ward which did not alter significantly after detoxification. The mean level of IL-6 was initially elevated in Lesch typology 2 alcohol abusers and declined to the reference range after detoxification. Lesch typology 3 alcohol abusers showed normal levels of IL-6 at both time points. Only in Lesch typology 1 were the levels of ferritin and IL-10 significantly elevated at the start of the detoxification process. Cognitive impairment, as ascertained by Stroop test and Brown-Peterson procedure was greater in Lesch typology 1 than the other 2 patient groups. Conclusion: Such data might indicate a greater degree of neuroinflammation in Lesch typology 1 alcoholic patients. Short summary: Dividing a heterogeneous group of alcoholic subjects into homogenous groups according to Lesch typology, identifies a greater pro-inflammatory profile in Lesch typology 1 patients who also showed greater cognitive impairment.
Clinical neurophysiology : official journal of the International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology, Oct 1, 2017
Cognitive impairment is a major component in addiction. However, research has been inconclusive a... more Cognitive impairment is a major component in addiction. However, research has been inconclusive as to whether this is also the case for smokers. The present study aims at providing electrophysiological clue for altered inhibitory control in smokers and at investigating whether reduced inhibition was more pronounced during exposure to a smoking cue. ERPs were recorded during a visual Go-NoGo task performed by 18 smokers and 23 controls, in which either a frequent Go signal (letter "M") or a rare No-Go signal ("letter W") were superimposed on three different long-lasting background contexts: black-neutral, smoking-related and non smoking-related. (1) Smokers performed worse and had an earlier NoGo-N2 latency as compared to controls and independently of context, suggesting a general inhibition impairment; (2) with smoking-related backgrounds specifically, smokers made fewer mistakes than they did in other contexts and displayed a larger NoGo P3 amplitude. These data...
The dual process theory is central to several models of addiction, implying both an increase of s... more The dual process theory is central to several models of addiction, implying both an increase of stimulus salience and deficits in inhibitory control. Our major aim is to provide behavioral evidence for an approach bias tendency in smokers and more specifically during smoking cue exposure. The second aim is to examine whether this bias differs in low-dependent versus dependent smokers. Thirty-two smokers (17 low dependent and 15 dependent; cut-off FTND of 4) and 28 non-smokers performed a modified Go/NoGo task using tobacco-related words and neutral words as stimuli. Smokers generally made more mistakes and tended to be faster for smoking-related cues specifically. Low dependents acknowledged more their dependency in declarative questionnaires while making more errors and being slower specifically on smoking cues; dependent smokers were less prone to indicate their addiction, but were faster and accurate when it came to picking the smoking cues. These results suggest that a shift has...
Alcohol detoxification is accompanied by sustained difficulties in sleep initiation and maintenan... more Alcohol detoxification is accompanied by sustained difficulties in sleep initiation and maintenance. These difficulties are thought to be an important cause of relapse to alcohol use. However, the treatment of sleep problems with hypnotic drug is made difficult by cross-tolerance between benzodiazepines and alcohol. In this report, we evaluated the capacity of trazodone (TRZ), a second-generation antidepressant with anxiolytic and sedative properties, to increase the sleep efficiency in alcohol-dependent patients after detoxification. Sixteen patients completed the TRZ (n = 8) or the placebo (PL; n = 8) treatment arms. Polysomnographies were performed at baseline, after the 1st drug dose, and after 4 weeks of treatment. The main outcome was sleep efficiency. Secondary outcomes included changes in other sleep parameters, Hamilton Depression Rating and Clinical Global Impression scales. Sleep efficiency was increased in the TRZ group when it was computed after sleep onset, both immedi...
This paper will discuss rationality and ethics in the thought of Alasdair MacIntyre. Like other c... more This paper will discuss rationality and ethics in the thought of Alasdair MacIntyre. Like other communitarian thinkers, tradition is the keyword in his thinking. MacIntyre's rationality and ethics are tradition-based rationality and ethics. The return of tradition in the debate of rationality and ethics is a critique of the Enlightenment project which assumes that tradition is irrational. But MacIntyre also disagrees with the post-enlightenment argument with a relativist and perspective tendency. However the rationality and ethics proposed by MacIntyre still has a certain principle of objectivity. Used in contemporary realities, including in Indonesia, Alasdair Macintyre's thought is useful for understanding political identity critically.
DI-fusion, le Dépôt institutionnel numérique de l'ULB, est l'outil de référencementde l... more DI-fusion, le Dépôt institutionnel numérique de l'ULB, est l'outil de référencementde la production scientifique de l'ULB.L'interface de recherche DI-fusion permet de consulter les publications des chercheurs de l'ULB et les thèses qui y ont été défendues.
Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 1991
Noradrenergic neurons have been implicated in the development of ethanol dependence and tolerance... more Noradrenergic neurons have been implicated in the development of ethanol dependence and tolerance. Moreover, the development of an hyposensitivity of alpha 2 adrenoceptors has been postulated during long-term exposition to ethanol. In order to test the putative role of alpha 2 receptors in ethanol intoxication, we have studied the interaction between ethanol and yohimbine, an alpha 2 antagonist, on the spontaneous firing rate of rat locus coeruleus (LC) in an in vitro slice model. The spikes from single neurons were recorded by glass microelectrodes. Ethanol at 100 mM, a concentration that parallels the behavioral effects in the human and in the animals, inhibits the firing activity of some LC cells. This inhibition was quickly reversed after stopping the ethanol perfusion and was observed for each further administration. However, if yohimbine (20 microM) was simultaneously perfused, the ethanol-induced inhibition was rapidly antagonized. This effect is reversible after long time washout of yohimbine. This suggests that alpha 2 adrenoceptors could be implicated in the inhibitory effect of ethanol on LC noradrenergic neurons and perhaps in the development of tolerance. However, other hypotheses are discussed, because yohimbine can also antagonize other types of receptors.
Alcohol dependence constitutes a serious worldwide public health problem. The last few decades ha... more Alcohol dependence constitutes a serious worldwide public health problem. The last few decades have seen many pharmacological studies devoted to the improvement of alcoholism treatment. Although psychosocial treatments (e.g. individual or group therapy) have historically been the mainstay of alcoholism treatment, a successful approach for alcohol dependence consists in associating pharmacologic medications with therapy, as 40-70% of patients following only psychosocial therapy typically resume alcohol use within a year of post-detoxification treatment. Nowadays, two main pharmacological options, naltrexone and acomprosate, both approved by the US Food and Drug Administration, are available and seemingly improve on the results yielded by standard techniques employed in the management of alcoholism. However, insufficient data exist to confirm the superiority of one drug over the other, and research is ongoing to determine what type of alcoholdependent individual benefits the most from using either medication. Available data on the application of both drugs clearly suggest different practical applications. Thus, a fundamental question remains as to how we can identify which alcoholic patients are likely to benefit from the use of naltrexone, acamprosate or both, and which are not. The aim of the present manuscript is to suggest the use of cognitive event-related potentials as an interesting way to identify subgroups of alcoholic patients displaying specific clinical symptoms and cognitive disturbances. We propose that this may help clinicians to improve their treatment of alcoholic patients by focusing therapy on individual cognitive disturbances, and by adapting the pharmaceutical approach to the specific needs of the patient. -page 10, "They showed that a lateral occipital." : The authors should specify who "they" refer to.
Alcohol consumption has been known to affect behavior and cognition. In this paper, we review evi... more Alcohol consumption has been known to affect behavior and cognition. In this paper, we review evidence for the idea that alcohol disrupts two important cognitive processes critical to flexible interaction with a changing environment: the individual’s ability to successfully and intentionally inhibit or suppress a prepotent response, and to detect the occurrence of an error. In compromising an individual’s ability to withhold a prepotent response and in attenuating the brain’s capacity to detect action slips, the consumption of alcohol may also prevent the mobilization of further flexible executive control in response to environmental prompts (e.g., to stop drinking when intending to drive a car). Individual differences in these cognitive processes prior to or following the ingestion of alcohol are also discussed.
To test the generalized emotional decoding impairment hypothesis in alcoholism. Design Cross-sect... more To test the generalized emotional decoding impairment hypothesis in alcoholism. Design Cross-sectional behavioural study comparing emotion recognition conveyed by faces, voices and musical excerpts. Setting Alcohol detoxification unit of Brugmann University Hospital. Participants Twenty-five recently detoxified alcohol-dependent patients were compared to 25 normal controls matched for sex, age and educational level. Measurements From faces, voices and musical excerpts, participants were instructed to rate the intensity of several emotions on a scale from 0 for 'absent' to 9 for 'highly present'. Depression, anxiety and sustained/selective attention capacities were controlled for. Findings Alcohol-dependent patients were less accurate than controls in identifying the target emotion in faces (P < 0.001), voices (P < 0.001) and musical excerpts (P < 0.001). Conclusions Alcohol-dependent patients who are completing detoxification are impaired in recognizing emotions conveyed by faces, voices and music; these results suggest a generalized emotional decoding impairment. Hypothetically, deficits in the fronto-parietal mirror neurone system could link all these disturbances together.
To study cognitive biases for alcohol-related cues on executive function tasks involving mental f... more To study cognitive biases for alcohol-related cues on executive function tasks involving mental flexibility and response inhibition in polysubstance abusers with alcoholism. Design The responses to alcohol-related cues of detoxified polysubstance abusers with alcoholism and of non-addicts were compared.
To study the 'social brain' in alcoholics by investigating social contract reasoning, theory of m... more To study the 'social brain' in alcoholics by investigating social contract reasoning, theory of mind and emotional intelligence. Design A behavioral study comparing recently detoxified alcoholics with normal, healthy controls. Setting Emotional intelligence and decoding of emotional non-verbal cues have been shown to be impaired in alcoholics. This study explores whether these deficits extend to conditional reasoning about social contracts. Participants Twenty-five recently detoxified alcoholics (17 men and eight women) were compared with 25 normal controls (17 men and eight women) matched for sex, age and education level. Measurements Wason selection task investigating conditional reasoning on three different rule types (social contract, precautionary and descriptive), revised Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test, Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire (modified version) and additional control measures. Findings Conditional reasoning was impaired in alcoholics. Performance on descriptive rules was not above chance. Reasoning performance was markedly better on social contract and precautionary rules, but this performance was still significantly lower than in controls. Several emotional intelligence measures were lower in alcoholics compared to controls, but these were not correlated with reasoning performance. Conclusions Conditional reasoning, including reasoning about social contracts and emotional intelligence appear to be impaired in alcoholics. Impairment seems to be particularly severe on descriptive rules. Impairment in social contract reasoning might lead to misunderstandings and frustration in social interactions, and reasoning difficulties about precautionary rules might contribute to risky behaviors in this population.
Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a technique used for investigation of the tics, when r... more Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a technique used for investigation of the tics, when repeatedly applied, has a therapeutic potential, notably in psychiatry. The physiological and neuroendocrine effects induced by repeated TMS treatment in an animal model are similar to those caused by antidepressants in man. In particular, TMS appears to modify the release of neuromediators (serotonin, dopamine) involved in
Background and aims The “process-model” of self-control proposes that the ego-depletion effect is... more Background and aims The “process-model” of self-control proposes that the ego-depletion effect is better explained by a switch between interest in “have-to” labor and cognitive “want-to” leisure, rather than being mainly due to a decrease in cognitive resources, as advanced by the “strength-model” of self-control. However, it is currently difficult to disentangle the “process-model” from the “strength-model” of self-control. Here, we employed a stepwise approach, featuring three studies, for testing the process model of self-control. Methods In Study 1, we created a list of 30 self-control events for characterizing “have-to” conducts in the daily life. In Study 2, mental visualization of effortful self-control events (“have-to”) and monetary risk-taking (“want-to”) were employed for testing the strength-model of self-control. In Study 3, to test the process-model of self-control, participants were simply required to read self-control (or neutral) sentences. Results Study 1 provided ...
Inhibitory control, a process deeply studied in laboratory settings, refers to the ability to inh... more Inhibitory control, a process deeply studied in laboratory settings, refers to the ability to inhibit an action once it has been initiated. A common way to process data in such tasks is to take the mean response time (RT) and error rate per participant. However, such an analysis ignores the strong dependency between spontaneous RT variations and error rate. Conditional accuracy function (CAF) is of particular interest, as by plotting the probability of a response to be correct as a function of its latency, it provides a means for studying the strength of impulsive responses associated with a higher frequency of fast response errors. This procedure was applied to a recent set of data in which the right inferior frontal gyrus (rIFG) was modulated using transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS). Healthy participants (n = 40) were presented with a "Go/No-go" task (click on letter M, not on letter W, session 1). Then, one subgroup (n = 20) was randomly assigned to one 20-m...
This article describes a study protocol, which aims to explore and describe the feasibility of a ... more This article describes a study protocol, which aims to explore and describe the feasibility of a mobile-phone application for initiating intuitive eating and intuitive exercising in patients who are following an ambulatory treatment for obesity. Intuitive eating refers to one's ability to make food choices based on one's awareness of his/her body's response. Intuitive exercising encourages people in finding enjoyable ways of being physically active. These two components will be trained using an implementation intention procedure, that is, behavioral plans that aim at creating a strong link between a specified situation and a response. We aim to recruit up to 80 overweight and obese patients over a period of 2 years. The smartphone application will be assessed on the basis of (i) data obtained through a 4-week use period, (ii) self-report measures taken before and after the use of the mobile application, and (iii) feedbacks from participants after the use of the mobile ap...
We examined proactive (early restraint in preparation for stopping) and reactive (late correction... more We examined proactive (early restraint in preparation for stopping) and reactive (late correction to stop ongoing action) motor response inhibition in two groups of participants: professional athletes ( n = 28) and nonathletes ( n = 25). We recruited the elite athletes from Belgian national taekwondo and fencing teams. We estimated proactive and reactive inhibition with a modified version of the stop-signal task (SST) in which participants inhibited categorizing left/right arrows. The probability of the stop signal was manipulated across blocks of trials by providing probability cues from the background computer screen color (green = 0%, yellow =17%, orange = 25%, red = 33%). Participants performed two sessions of the SST, where proactive inhibition was operationalized with increased go-signal reaction time as a function of increased stop-signal probability and reactive inhibition was indicated by stop-signal reaction time latency. Athletes exhibited higher reactive inhibition perfo...
Aim: To investigate pro-inflammatory markers in the blood and associate with cognitive impairment... more Aim: To investigate pro-inflammatory markers in the blood and associate with cognitive impairment. Methods:: Il-6 and ferritin were assayed in the blood of 27 patients, divided according to Lesch typology, at the commencement and after 21 days of detoxification, together with a battery of cognitive tests. Results: A significantly higher mean level of IL-6 was present in the blood of patients with Lesch typology 1 compared to the other typologies 2 and 3 on admission to the Detoxification Ward which did not alter significantly after detoxification. The mean level of IL-6 was initially elevated in Lesch typology 2 alcohol abusers and declined to the reference range after detoxification. Lesch typology 3 alcohol abusers showed normal levels of IL-6 at both time points. Only in Lesch typology 1 were the levels of ferritin and IL-10 significantly elevated at the start of the detoxification process. Cognitive impairment, as ascertained by Stroop test and Brown-Peterson procedure was greater in Lesch typology 1 than the other 2 patient groups. Conclusion: Such data might indicate a greater degree of neuroinflammation in Lesch typology 1 alcoholic patients. Short summary: Dividing a heterogeneous group of alcoholic subjects into homogenous groups according to Lesch typology, identifies a greater pro-inflammatory profile in Lesch typology 1 patients who also showed greater cognitive impairment.
Clinical neurophysiology : official journal of the International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology, Oct 1, 2017
Cognitive impairment is a major component in addiction. However, research has been inconclusive a... more Cognitive impairment is a major component in addiction. However, research has been inconclusive as to whether this is also the case for smokers. The present study aims at providing electrophysiological clue for altered inhibitory control in smokers and at investigating whether reduced inhibition was more pronounced during exposure to a smoking cue. ERPs were recorded during a visual Go-NoGo task performed by 18 smokers and 23 controls, in which either a frequent Go signal (letter "M") or a rare No-Go signal ("letter W") were superimposed on three different long-lasting background contexts: black-neutral, smoking-related and non smoking-related. (1) Smokers performed worse and had an earlier NoGo-N2 latency as compared to controls and independently of context, suggesting a general inhibition impairment; (2) with smoking-related backgrounds specifically, smokers made fewer mistakes than they did in other contexts and displayed a larger NoGo P3 amplitude. These data...
The dual process theory is central to several models of addiction, implying both an increase of s... more The dual process theory is central to several models of addiction, implying both an increase of stimulus salience and deficits in inhibitory control. Our major aim is to provide behavioral evidence for an approach bias tendency in smokers and more specifically during smoking cue exposure. The second aim is to examine whether this bias differs in low-dependent versus dependent smokers. Thirty-two smokers (17 low dependent and 15 dependent; cut-off FTND of 4) and 28 non-smokers performed a modified Go/NoGo task using tobacco-related words and neutral words as stimuli. Smokers generally made more mistakes and tended to be faster for smoking-related cues specifically. Low dependents acknowledged more their dependency in declarative questionnaires while making more errors and being slower specifically on smoking cues; dependent smokers were less prone to indicate their addiction, but were faster and accurate when it came to picking the smoking cues. These results suggest that a shift has...
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