An observational study in Alcohol Use Disorder, sponsored by University of Bern. Completed at 1 site in Switzerland. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2025-11-25.
Sponsored by University of Bern · Observational
Research about patients with alcohol use disorder has shown that task-related brain activation patterns as well as resting-state connectivity (measured with functional magnetic resonance imaging) change with clinical parameters such as the extent of craving and duration of abstinence during treatment. These brain activation alterations are related to treatment success. Although an imbalance between increased cue-reactivity and impaired counteracting inhibitory control processes are at the core of most neuropsychological conceptualizations of alcohol use disorder, the direct interaction between these two processes has not yet been investigated. Therefore, the investigators aim to study patients with alcohol use disorder in an ultra-high-field 7 Tesla magnetic resonance imaging scanner to identify fine-grained activation and connectivity patterns. The investigators would like to improve the knowledge of the interplay between the brain networks for inhibition and cue-reactivity, as well as to explore its influence on craving and treatment success. The investigators hypothesize that a more pronounced negative relationship between increased cue-reactivity and reduced inhibitory control processes in the brain is linked to higher craving and worse relapse probability.
Even if an imbalance between enhanced cue-reactivity and impaired opposing control processes is at the center of most neuroscientific conceptualizations of alcohol use disorder (AUD), these two processes are still rarely investigated in direct interaction.
Attempting to target both processes in one design, initial studies reported enhanced brain activation in anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (vlPFC), when control processes had to be carried out in the context of alcohol-related cues, and linked this altered brain activation to relapse risk. Hence, the proposed study will take advantage of the higher spatial resolution and signal-to-noise ratio of a 7 Tesla fMRI scanner to investigate more subtle effects and the involvement of subregions of vlPFC and ACC during alcohol-related inhibition.
Of special interest, particularly when it comes to explaining an imbalance between brain systems related to cue-reactivity and inhibitory control, are concurrent measures of functional brain connectivity. Aberrant resting-state functional connectivity in networks involved in reward prediction, motivation, salience attribution and executive control have been reported in AUD. Also, altered task-related connectivity was observed during cue-reactivity as well as during executive control. However, functional connectivity measures during a task combining both aspects are still missing. Therefore, this study examines the mutual interplay between cue-responsive regions and opposing inhibitory control networks. To this aim, task-related functional connectivity are measured in a specifically tailored experimental design allowing for the assessment of effects related to cue-reactivity, inhibition, as well as their interaction.
Besides, this study assesses whether possible interaction effects of task-related functional connectivity between cue-reactivity and inhibitory control vary with craving, change with prolonged abstinence or predicts drinking outcome.
Taken together, this study will deepen the understanding of the interplay between neuronal networks central to AUD, cue-reactivity and inhibitory control. The (im)balance between these processes is crucial for recently abstinent patients striving to control drinking habits and urges in an environment infused with alcohol-related cues. As such, markers capturing the interaction between these processes are of high conceptual and clinical relevance and might pave the way towards a potential biomarker indicating enhanced relapse risk.
1,674 studies on the registry are indexed under Alcoholism; 331 are open to participants now.
This study's enrollment of 59 is below the median of 159 across 183 observational studies indexed under Alcoholism.
Browse Alcoholism studies →University of Bern is the lead sponsor of 209 studies on the registry; 47 are open to participants now.
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AUD patients are detoxified and will be recruited upon entry to specialized residential treatment program at the Clinic Südhang in Kirchlindach in Switzerland.
HC subjects will be recruited via advertisement in social media and local newspapers in the area of Bern in Switzerland.
Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.
Exclusion Criteria:
Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.
You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.
A reason a treatment, test or procedure should not be given to a particular person, such as an allergy, another illness or a medicine they take.
Informed consent
Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.
You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Contraindication
A reason a treatment, test or procedure should not be given to a particular person, such as an allergy, another illness or a medicine they take.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
A group of 30 detoxified patients who are part of the specialized residential treatment program at the Clinic Suedhang in Kirchlindach in Switzerland.
Behavioral: Go-Nogo-task during functional magnetic resonance imaging · Other: Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging
A group of 30 age- and gender-matched healthy control subjects who are recruited via advertisement in social media or local newspaper.
Behavioral: Go-Nogo-task during functional magnetic resonance imaging · Other: Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging
Go-Nogo-task (GNG) implemented as a mixed block- and event-related design paradigm for task-related functional resonance imaging. It is composed of six blocks, each containing an event-related inhibitory control GNG. There are two blocks with an alcohol-related GNG, two blocks with a neutral GNG, and two blocks with a mixed GNG paradigm. The blocks are presented in a counterbalanced fashion between the participants. Each block contains 125 Go-trials and 25 NoGo-trials (ratio 5:1), resulting in 150 trials per block with a block time of 5 minutes. Participants are instructed to press a button whenever a stimulus appears on the screen (Go-trial). The only exception to this rule is when the same stimulus appears twice (NoGo-trial). Stimulus material consists of 60 alcohol-related and 60 neutral pictures, presented in a pseudo-randomized order.
Also known as: Siemens Terra 7T
An fMRI (multiband-echo-planar imaging) blood oxygenated level dependent (BOLD) protocol is run during 6 minutes of rest. This protocol allows the assessment of connectivity measures at rest, which can be compared to connectivity changes during the GNG task.
BOLD contrast alcohol vs. neutral inhibition
The BOLD signal (spatial activation pattern) of alcohol-related stimuli and neutral stimuli during successful inhibition is compared between AUD and HC.
Time frame: 3-4 weeks after study inclusion
BOLD contrast covariance with craving
Covariance analysis of the BOLD contrast of successful inhibition between alcohol-related stimuli and neutral stimuli with measures of craving (obsessive compulsive drinking scale, visual analogue scale of craving)
Time frame: 3-4 weeks after study inclusion
BOLD task-related connectivity
Psychophysiological interaction (PPI) derived functional connectivity strengths (voxel-to-voxel correlations stratified for cue-type, alcohol vs. neutral), assessing of main effects related to cue-reactivity (alcohol vs. neutral), inhibition (Nogo vs. Go), as well as their interaction and difference between AUD and HC.
Time frame: 3-4 weeks after study inclusion
BOLD task-related connectivity covariance with craving and drinking outcome
Covariance of craving (obsessive compulsive drinking scale, visual analogue scale of craving) and drinking outcome measures (difference in percentage of days abstinent between baseline and 3-month follow-up) with BOLD connectivity of cue-reactivity and inhibitory control.
Time frame: 3 months after GNG-task in fMRI
Plan to share: No
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Ran from May 2024 to primary completion in Oct 2025, 17 months.
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This study is completed, as verified in Nov 2025. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.
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