Attentional Bias During a Novel Alcohol Cue Virtual Reality Paradigm
Ryan M. Sullivan, Benjamin S. McKenna, Weichen Liu, Arwynn McKinty, Camarin Laurance, Craig R. Rush, Nadir Weibel, Kelly E. CourtneyABSTRACT
Background
Attentional bias to alcohol cues is largely investigated using pictorial cues (i.e., two‐dimensional images). The addition of eye‐tracking metrics has improved these investigations yet are limited by a lack of naturalistic cues. Virtual reality (
Methods
Participants ( n = 105, 53% male, M age = 38), with varying alcohol use histories, underwent the Alcohol Cue VR paradigm, an alcohol visual probe task, and measures of alcohol craving and VR‐related assessments. The Alcohol Cue VR paradigm comprised of three active scenes with alcohol cues present, and three neutral scenes devoid of alcohol cues. Eye‐gaze fixation time (index of “attentional bias”) in response to alcohol and control cues was recorded. Forward‐stepwise models searched for optimal alcohol‐related predictors of attentional bias, then compared against eye‐tracking and response time metrics from the alcohol visual probe task.
Results
Alcohol use history, age of regular use onset, recency of use, and binge episodes were significantly associated with eye‐gaze fixation time to alcohol cues; how present one felt within the
Conclusions
The Alcohol Cue VR paradigm provided commensurate measures of attentional bias in the context of alcohol cues. Unique alcohol‐related characteristics impacted the extent of attentional bias to alcohol‐related cues, exemplifying the utility of VR‐derived measurement in assessing alcohol use. Future research can understand whether VR attentional bias is modifiable through treatment and can serve as clinical endpoints.