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| Dr Reinout
W. Wiers, Ph.D.
Associate Professor Universiteit Maastricht For visitors:
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| Work: Fax: E-mail: |
+31 43 3 88 1935 +31 43 3 88 4196 r.wiers@maastrichtuniversity.nl |
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Curriculum Vitae Research Areas Teaching Areas Publications request for reprints Fellowships and Grants WWW Links of Interest |
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Curriculum Vitae (short)
positions
Degrees
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Current
Research Areas
Ad I. We developed new versions of the IAT (Implicit Association Test) to assess alcohol-expectancies in two emotional dimensions: valence and arousal (Wiers et al., 2002a,b). With respect to valence, we found that unexpectedly, both light and heavy drinkers showed negative alcohol associations (as compared with sodas). On the arousal dimension, only heavy drinkers showed implicit arousal associations. This finding was replicated in a second study (Wiers et al., 2005) in which a first attempt was made to change implicit cognitions. For this line of research I received the N.W.O. VIDI grant (Dutch National Science Foundation grant for innovative research, VIDI 452.02.005) for five years. Aims of the project are to further investigate the nature of the implicit associations, the relationship between implicit associations and an attentional bias, the relationship with biological measures of substance-related appetitive responses and craving, the development of implicit and explicit substance-related cognitions in relation to substance use and misuse, to investigate how existing interventions act upon implicit vs. explicit substance related cognitions, and to explore new ways to change implicit cognitions (Wiers et al., 2006). Four PhD projects are related to this line of research: 1. Katrijn Houben (started June 2003, VIDI AIO-1) focuses on issues of assessment and construct validity of implicit alcohol- and drug-related cognitions. She recently tested a unipolar version of our alcohol-IATs (Houben & Wiers, 2004; submitted). 2. Carolien Thush (started January 2004, ZON-MW preventie & N.W.O. Addiction). She does two projects: one on an intervention to change heavy drinking in high-risk adolescents (The project “Learning to Drink”, see below), and one on assessing and changing implicit alcohol- and drug-related cognitions in high-risk youth, in collaboration with the University of Southern California in Los Angeles (USC-LA; Prof. Stacy, Dr. Ames, Prof. Sussman). 3. Tim Schoenmakers (2nd VIDI AIO, started September 2004). Will investigate new ways to change implicit associations (see Wiers et al., 2004; 2006). 4. Esther van den Wildenberg (N.W.O. Addiction; UM, 1e geldstroom, started January 2001). Prime target of this PhD project was an investigation of predictors of Naltrexon treatment (see below). In addition, several pre-clinical studies have been conducted, primarily linking implicit and explicit cognitions to biological reactions to drugs (Van den Wildenberg et al., 2004; in preparation).
Together with my collaborator at USC (Prof. Alan Stacy) I have edited the Handbook on Implicit Cognition and Addiction, for SAGE publishers. http://www.sagepub.com/booktoc.aspx?pid=11481&sc=1
II Interventions. Main aim here is to investigate how we can use the growing body of knowledge about processes in addiction to the development of more effective interventions. We concentrate on targeted prevention (aimed at people who are at high risk but will most of the time not diagnose for an addiction, or at least not recognize that they have a problem) and treatment.
Targeted prevention. 1. Expectancy Challenge. In two studies we tested a cognitive behavioral intervention aimed at high risk college drinkers, the expectancy challenge (EC, Wiers & Kummeling, 2004; Wiers et al., 2005). Results showed for the first time a positive effect on women (Wiers & Kummeling, 2004) with an adapted protocol, but a larger follow-up study (Wiers et al.,2005) confirmed the effect of the EC on explicit cognitions, but in heavy drinking women, no effect on drinking was found. In men an effect was found, but it was short-lived (only significant three weeks after the intervention). Interestingly, the change in expectancies in men mediated this reduction in drinking in men (first time mediation was demonstrated, see also Jones et al., 2001; Wiers, 2002). The second study also investigated effects on implicit alcohol cognitions (see under I), but no clear effects were found. The EC is also part of the intervention “Learning to Drink”, and preliminary results indicated a desirable effect in high-risk youth as well (Thush et al., 2004). Jade van de Luitgaarden (PhD Project ZON “Gezond Leven” together with Prof. Ronald Knibbe, hosted at Health Science, UM) investigates the effects of an EC and of environmental interventions (2 x 2 design) on binge-drinking in adolescents on vacation (in collaboration with NIGZ).
2. “Learning to Drink”. In this project (ZON-MW
prevention) a new targeted prevention was developed (see Wiers & Theunissen,
2002) and tested in high-risk youth. This project is done in collaboration
with the GGD-Zuid Zuid Limburg (Community Health Center). The intervention
consisted of six group-sessions and an individual session consisting of a
motivational interview. Unfortunately, there have been severe recruitment
problems, resulting in an N of 104 rather than the anticipated 200 at the
closing of the project. Although the intervention changed explicit
cognitions (expectancies and risk perception), no effects on behavior were
found (Thush et al., submitted).
3. Other targeted prevention efforts. In the
collaboration with USC (see above, Carolien Thush), we will test the effects
of a Motivational Interview on implicit and explicit cognitions and on the
further development of substance use and misuse in high-risk youth in both
countries. Further, we are trying to develop new ways to change implicit
cognitions (Tim Schoenmakers, see above). 4. Treatment In the project of Esther van den Wildenberg, predictors of Naltrexon treatment success are investigated. On the Dutch side, there were massive recruitment problems. The main problem was that patients did not want to participate because they ran the risk of receiving placebo, which would not be the case when they did not participate. For this reason, the placebo condition was excluded. Currently we are investigating prediction of treatment effects by implicit and explicit cognitions and other variables such as family history (Van den Wildenberg et al., submitted).
Other research areas: Naďve theories are coherent knowledge structures that children and lay-adults construct to explain the world around them (see further Samarapungavan & Wiers, 1997). In a number of studies (mostly as yet unpublished, alas, give me more time…) I further explored the nature of biological knowledge in children (naďve theories on speciation, genetics). This line of study is not only of theoretical interest (cognitive development, the nature of knowledge representation), but also has practical implications for education and prevention. Education: when students already possess a strong and coherent naďve theory, it is hard to teach them the expert theories, which typically get refuted, ignored or transformed. We showed that this also takes place in problem based-learning (Schaen, Wiers, et al., 2001): psychology freshmen had a consistent naďve theory about sleep before they participated in a course on biological psychology in which they learned about the biological clock, and on a post-test, most students answered inconsistently: sometimes in accordance with their old theory and sometimes in accordance with their new theory (see further Wiers, van der Wiel et al., 2002). Although problem-based learning has been shown to increase self efficacy in students, research from our group demonstrated that this finding cannot be generalized to other populations who could benefit from increased self-efficacy, i.e. physically handicapped adolescents (Könings et al., 2005). Prevention: there is an accumulating body of knowledge concerning risk-factors for addictions (see Wiers, 1999; 2002). What do lay-people know about these risk factors? There is some evidence that risk-factors may be misrepresented in children at risk: for example, a child of an alcoholic is likely to experience a greater tolerance for alcohol in comparison with a child of a non-alcoholic with the same drinking history. This has been shown to be a risk-factor for the further development of alcoholism (Schuckit & Smith, 1996). However, we recently found that approximately half of the adolescents believes that this is a protective factor for the development of alcoholism (as yet unpublished data). Misconceptions like this one are targeted in our recently developed targeted prevention (Carolien Thush).
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Teaching Areas
& Internships
Coordinator:
Other contributions
to:
Stages (internships) experimental psychological addiction research: Supervisor of many internal and external internships / masters’ theses projects, mostly related to addictive behaviors.
Short description (April 2006, more details in stageklapper). * Internal Projects: New internships/ masters thesis possibilities for students of Psychology or Health Science (GGK).
1. Approach/Avoidance and addictive behaviors. New tests have been developed to assess automatic approach and avoidance action tendencies. We want to compare these tests in predicting different addictive behaviors (i.e. smoking, drinking alcohol). First Supervisor: Reinout Wiers (EP); 2nd supervisor: Remco Havermans (EP) In collaboration with Mike Rinck (RUN)
2. Automatic alcohol associations and brain responses Goal of this project is to relate automatic alcohol associations assessed with reaction time measures, to brain responses to alcohol pictures in the fMRI scanner, in different viewing conditions (explicit and implicit) and to compare these responses with those to matched neutral pictures and other appetitive responses (i.e. sex). First Supervisor UM: Katrijn Houben (EP); 2nd supervisors: Reinout Wiers (EP), Rainer Goebel (NC) & Elia Formisano (NC).
External:
1. Stress, automatic associations and alcohol abuse (Mannheim, BRD) Goal of this project is to assess associations between stress and alcohol and to relate these to the actual stress reactions of participants under the influence of alcohol vs. placebo. This will take place in Mannheim, Germany, under local supervision of Dr. Ulrich Zimmerman, an expert on biological assessments during stress (this study will be linked to an ongoing study of Dr. Zimmerman). First Supervisor UM: Reinout Wiers (EP), 2nd supervisor: Katrijn Houben (EP)
2. Automatic associations in Children of Alcoholics (Köln, BRD) Goal of this project is to assess associations between alcohol and expected affective changes in Children of Alcoholics (a known risk group for developing alcohol-related problems) vs. controls. This will be done in Köln, Germany, under local supervision of Prof. Dr. Klein, an expert on research in Children of Alcoholics, who has a large sample available for the study. First Supervisor UM: Reinout Wiers (EP), 2nd supervisor: Katrijn Houben (EP)
3. Prediction of treatment outcome with implicit measures (a) & Attentional Retraining in Addicts (b) (Mondriaan Zorggroep Verslaving) Goal of this project is to predict treatment outcome in alcoholics in clinics using implicit measures (a) and to try to directly modify implicit cognition involved in addiction.
Interesse in één van deze stages? Interested? Email: r.wiers@maastrichtuniversity.nl
Other internal projects: Implicit cognition: Implicit associations and attentional bias. Katrijn Houben (043-3881953) k.houben@maastrichtuniversity.nl
Implicit cognition and Targeted Prevention: Carolien Thush (043-3881927) c.thush@maastrichtuniversity.nl
Genetica, implicit cognition, and addiction Esther van den Wildenberg (043-3881944) e.vandenwildenberg@maastrichtuniversity.nl
External: Hasj en wiet-verwachtingen veranderen. CAD Limburg / Jellinek Amsterdam More info on separate sheet.
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Publications and Requests for Reprints
Books / Chapters
Co-authored research articles
Other Research Areas (Selection)
Publications in Dutch (Nederlandse Publicaties, selectie):
Mail your request
for reprint
here |
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| Fellowships and Grants | ||
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Fellowships:
Mail your request for reprint here |
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WWW Links of Interest
Contacts / Links of Interest (National) Addiction
Other (National)
Contacts / Links of Interest (International)
Implicit Cognition and Addiction Collaborations (ongoing or intended):
Other:
Implicit Cognition - general
Cognition & Emotion
Naive Theories
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