The Study Of Cognitive Flexibility In Heroin Addicts

Evidence suggests that deficits in executive functions associated with long-term heroin use could remain even months after abstinence.Cognitive flexibility is an important sub-component of executive function,and the flexible cognition can make it easier for individuals to change from one strategy to the other when confronted with crisis situations.However,some assessments of heroin addicts' cognitive flexibility were inconsistent.In addition,due to heightened incentive salience through conditioning,drug-related cues can affect cognitive function of drug addicts.To date,there has no study that has investigated the cognitive flexibility of heroin addicts in the context of drug-related cues.Therefore,this study using two behavioral experiments aimed to investigate the general cognitive flexibility and whether drug-related clues affect their cognitive flexibility respectively in heroin addicts.In experiment 1,46 male heroin addicts and 40 male healthy controls performed on a attentional-set-shifting paradigm,and the general cognitive flexibility of heroin addicts was investigated.The results showed that the switching cost of the heroin addicts during task performance was significantly higher comparing with the healthy controls.that is,compared with the healthy controls,the heroin addicts needed more time to switch from one condition to the other.In experiment 2,neutral and heroin-related pictures were added to attentional-set-shifting paradigm based on experiment 1.27 male heroin addicts and 30 male healthy controls were recruited and the effect of drug-related clues on the cognitive flexibility was investigated.The results showed that compared to the neutral condition,the heroin addicts had significantly higher switching cost under the drug-related condition,but this difference did not exist in the healthy controls.The findings suggested that heroin addicts still show cognitive flexibility deficits during abstinence.And their cognitive flexibility would reduce in the context of drug-related cues.It is helpful to understand that heroin addicts cannot resist the temptation when confronted with drugs or drug-related clues,and this highlight the significance of assessing and improving the ability of cognitive flexibility of drug addicts.