Browsing by Author "Verges Gómez, Álvaro Javier"
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- ItemDiminished Inhibitory Control in Adolescents with Overweight and/or Substance Use: an ERP Study(SPRINGER, 2022) Andreu Cafati, Catherine Iris; Cuevas, Alberto; Malbec De Vidts, Marcelo Emilio; Cordero, Miguel; Fuentealba, José Antonio; Verges Gómez, Álvaro JavierAdolescence represents a fundamental stage for interactions between excessive food intake and drug consumption. The association between obesity and drug use is unclear, but inhibitory control has been proposed as a common mechanism. The current study aimed to examine differences in inhibitory control measures in adolescents with overweight and/or substance use. Eighty-five adolescents 15-16 years of age were grouped according to a factorial design as cannabis users (n = 44) versus abstainers (n = 41), and alcohol users (n = 50) versus abstainers (n = 35). Participants were also classified depending on their BMI range as normal weight (n = 47) or overweight (n = 38). To measure inhibitory control, participants completed a Go-Nogo task while their brain activity was registered through electroencephalography, recording the event-related potentials during the task. No behavioral differences were found, but overweight teens exhibited lower P3 amplitudes (for both Go and Nogo conditions) compared with normal-BMI teens, indicating general difficulties in recruiting cognitive resources. Also, alcohol users showed higher Nogo-P3 amplitudes compared with alcohol abstainers, suggesting increased need of inhibitory control effort to achieve a good behavioral performance. Results indicate distinct altered inhibitory control functions in overweight adolescents and alcohol users. These findings suggest that different specific mechanisms of modulation of inhibitory control brain processes are involved in excessive food versus drug consumption, against the notion of food-drug competition. Understanding of associations between excessive food intake and substance use in adolescence will require identification of both common and specific risk factors.
- ItemHigh impulsive choice is accompanied by an increase in dopamine release in rat dorsolateral striatum(2021) Moreno Fernández, Macarena Gipsy; Azócar Garrido, Víctor Hugo; Verges Gómez, Álvaro Javier; Fuentealba Evans, José AntonioDopamine neurotransmission has been consistently associated with individual differences in impulsive choice. Clinical and preclinical evidence suggests that low striatal dopamine D2 signaling predisposes to engage in impulsive behaviors. Although dopamine D2 signaling controls dopamine (DA) extracellular levels, the relationship between striatal dopamine extracellular levels and impulsive choice remains poorly understood. Using quantitative microdialysis, we investigated whether extracellular DA levels in rat dorsolateral striatum (DLS) correlates with preference for an immediate small reward or for a delayed larger reward. Rats were tested in a delay-discounting task and classified as high impulsive (HI) or low impulsive (LI) according to the area under the discounting curve (AUC). No-net flux microdialysis experiments, assessing basal DA release, DA-uptake, and DA extracellular concentration (DA Cext), were carried out in dorsolateral striatum (DLS) of urethane-anesthetized rats. Rats classified as HI showed a higher DA release compared with LI rats. Differences in DLS DA-uptake and DA Cext were non-significant. Importantly, a significant negative correlation was observed between AUC and DA release, indicating that the lower the AUC, the higher the DLS DA release. This finding shows that DA release is augmented in the DLS of rats classified as HI, suggesting that a hyper-activated nigro-striatal pathway contributes to impulsive choice.
- ItemImpulsivity and Compulsivity Dimensions in the Prediction of Substance Use and Depressive Symptoms Among Emerging Adults(2024) Verges Gómez, Álvaro Javier; Arriaza Sáez, Tomas Martin; Soto Martínez, Marcela Ivonne; Alvarado, María ElenaImpulsivity and its diferent facets have been studied for decades as some of the main personality traits linked to psychopathology. However, in recent years, research has emphasized compulsivity as a more proximal risk factor for certain disorders, leading to diferent theorizations on the relation between impulsivity facets and compulsivity. Building on a model proposed by Nigg (2017), this study identifed the factor structure of Compulsivity and Impulsivity facets (Immediate Reward Preference, Cue-Triggered Impulsive Response, and Planful Risk-Taking) and explored their prospective associations with depressive symptoms, alcohol, and cannabis-related problems. A total of 729 emerging adults were measured at two waves of data collection, using the Impulsive-Compulsive Behaviours Checklist, UPPS-P Impulsive Behavior Scale, Sensitivity to Punishment and Sensitivity to Reward Questionnaire, Delay Discounting Task, and questionnaires designed to measure substance-related problems and depressive symptomatology. Confrmatory factor analysis revealed a four-factor orthogonal structure refecting the lower-level facets in Nigg’s model. Compulsivity predicted increased depressive symptoms, whereas CTIR predicted cannabis-related problems. Robustness analyses showed substantial but not complete consistency in fndings, pointing to variations in associations depending on specifc measures used to assess each construct. This study contributes to understanding the complex interplay of impulsivity and compulsivity and their relevance as vulnerability factors for diferent mental health conditions
- ItemNot All Symptoms of Alcohol Dependence Are Developmentally Equivalent: Implications for the False-Positives Problem(EDUCATIONAL PUBLISHING FOUNDATION-AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOC, 2021) Verges Gómez, Álvaro Javier; Lee, Matthew Richard; Martin, Christopher S.; Trull, Timothy J.; Martens, Matthew P.; Wood, Phillip K.; Sher, Kenneth J.Recent studies have examined the extent to which alcohol dependence (AD) criteria prospectively predict the course of AD. Critically, these studies have lacked a developmental perspective. However, the differential performance of criteria by age might indicate overendorsement in younger individuals. The current study examined AD criteria in terms of persistence and prediction of AD course and alcohol use by age in order to identify criteria that are likely to be overly endorsed by younger individuals. Method: The current study used longitudinal data from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions to depict age differences in rates of new onset, recurrence, and persistence for each AD criterion, thereby showing how these three factors contribute to the overall age-prevalence curve of each criterion. Additionally, we tested age moderation of the predictive association between each criterion at baseline and new onset, recurrence, and persistence of syndromal AD. Results: Some criteria (particularly, persistent desire or unsuccessful efforts to cut down or control drinking, and drinking despite physical/psychological problems) are both less persistent and less predictive of AD course among younger adults compared to older adults. Conclusions: These findings raise the possibility of elevated rates of false-positive AD among younger adults and suggest ways to improve the assessment of AD criteria.
- ItemRegistro Electrónico Nacional de Prescripción de Estupefacientes y Psicotrópicos: una mirada a posibles ventajas y dificultades de implementación(Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, 2024) Altermatt Couratier, Fernando René; Leon Stehr, Paula Jacinta; Goic Boroevic, Carolina; Leniz Martelli, Javiera; Ramos Vergara, Paulina Cecilia; Neyem, Hugo Andrés; Verges Gómez, Álvaro Javier; Aranguiz Villagran, Matías Andrés; Centro de Políticas Públicas UC; Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. Escuela de Medicina; Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. Facultad de Ingeniería; Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. Facultad de Derecho; Universidad de los Andes. Escuela de Psicología