Evaluation of motor impulsivity and impaired behavioral restraint during distractor challenge tests over the course of 7 weeks of abstinence.

<p>Challenge tests with visual distractors were performed during the 3^rd, 5^th and 7^th week of abstinence to characterize the temporal profile of altered 5C-CPT performance during protracted EtOH abstinence. Distinct challenge conditions were presented at each abstinence time to minimize habituation to the visual distractor. However, the initially presented distractor condition was presented again at the end of the 7^th abstinence week to probe the persistence of initially observed performance disruptions. Effects of each challenge condition were determined by comparing performance during challenge tests (Chal) with baseline performance under familiar conditions (BSL). Data from EtOH-exposed rats (n = 16) are black bars, data from EtOH-naïve controls (n = 17) are white bars. During the 3^rd and 5^th abstinence week EtOH-exposed rats exhibited increased motor impulsivity (premature responses; <b>panels A & D</b>) without disruption of behavioral restraint (false alarms; <b>panels B & E</b>). EtOH-related increases in motor impulsivity were not evident during the 7^th week of abstinence (<b>panel G</b>) (even under the initially employed distractor condition (<b>panel J</b>)) though EtOH-exposed rats exhibited significant impairment in behavioral restraint at this time (<b>panel H</b>). No group differences in response accuracy were evident at any abstinence time (<b>panels C, F, I & L</b>). <b>#</b> denotes significant group x challenge interaction and <b>&</b> denotes significant group main effects (p<0.05; Test vs. BSL ANOVA). * denotes significant group differences determined by Fisher's protected LSD (p<0.05).