Abstract
Rationale
Research on the relative impact of trait impulsivity vs. drug exposure on neuropsychological probes of response inhibition vs. response perseveration has been posited as a valid pathway to explore the transition between impulsivity and compulsivity on psychostimulant dependence.
Objectives
The objectives of this study are to examine performance differences between cocaine-dependent individuals (CDI) and healthy comparison individuals (HCI) on neuropsychological probes of inhibition and perseveration and to examine the predictive impact of trait impulsivity—a proxy of premorbid vulnerability, and severity of cocaine use—a proxy of drug exposure, on CDI’s performance.
Methods
Forty-two CDI and 65 HCI were assessed using the UPPS-P Scale (trait impulsivity), the Stroop and go/no-go (inhibition) and revised-strategy application and probabilistic reversal tests (perseveration).
Results
CDI, compared to HCI, have elevated scores on trait impulsivity and perform significantly poorer on inhibition and perseveration, with specific detrimental effects of duration of cocaine use on perseveration.
Conclusions
CDI have both inhibition and perseveration deficits; both patterns were broadly indicative of orbitofrontal dysfunction in the context of reinforcement learning. Impulsive personality and cocaine exposure jointly contribute to deficits in response perseveration or compulsivity.
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Acknowledgement
This work was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Education under the FPU national plan (grant reference AP 2005-1411), the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (MICINN, Dirección General de Investigación y Gestión del Plan Nacional I+D+i) under grant PSI2009-13133 and grant SEJ 2006-8278 by the Junta de Andalucía through the grant P07.HUM 03089 and by the Plan Nacional sobre Drogas (2009), COPERNICO grant.
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Fernández-Serrano, M.J., Perales, J.C., Moreno-López, L. et al. Neuropsychological profiling of impulsivity and compulsivity in cocaine dependent individuals. Psychopharmacology 219, 673–683 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-011-2485-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-011-2485-z