Examining the Effectiveness of Dynamic Visual Noise (DVN) for Reducing Alcohol Cravings and Consumption in College Students

University of Wyoming

Status: Enrolling

Conditions: Craving; Alcohol Drinking

Treatments: Other: Dynamic Visual Noise (DVN); Other: Static Visual Noise (SVN)

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT07157124

IRB-2025-162

Details and patient eligibility

About

The goal of this clinical trial is to examine whether dynamic visual noise (DVN), a short video array of rapidly moving black and white squares, reduces cravings for and consumption of alcohol in college students who drink alcohol and experience cravings for alcohol at least once a week on average. A second goal of this clinical trial is to examine whether changes in attentional bias towards alcohol (that is, the tendency to pay greater mental and visual attention towards alcohol over other things in one's environment) is a mechanism by which DVN reduces alcohol cravings and consumption.

Researchers will compare DVN to static visual noise (SVN), which is a still image of black and white squares that has been used as a control condition for DVN in prior literature.

Participants will:

1. Visit the laboratory once to complete the baseline data collection
2. Watch the DVN or SVN every day for seven days (including the day of the laboratory visit)
3. Complete daily follow-ups for six days following the day of the laboratory visit
4. Complete a final follow-up on the seventh day following the laboratory visit

Enrollment: 62 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 29 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

1. Must report being between the age of 18 and 29
2. Must report drinking alcohol at least once per week on average over the past month
3. Must report having drank beer or alcoholic seltzers in the past month
4. Must endorse experiencing craving at least once per week over the past month, on average
5. Must report not currently receiving nor planning to seek any other treatment for their alcohol use within the next 30 days
6. Must report owning a personal electronic device with access to the Internet
7. Must report owning or having access to a computer with access to the Internet

Exclusion criteria

1. Major visual impairment (i.e., legal blindness or color blindness)
2. History of seizures and/or diagnosed seizure disorder
3. Current medical diagnosis provided by a qualified professional (i.e., psychologist, psychiatrist, neurologist) that is characterized by cognitive impairment (i.e., neurocognitive disorder due to traumatic brain injury, traumatic brain injury, HIV infection, post-concussive syndrome, and intellectual disability)
4. Concussion in the past month
5. A current diagnosis of any substance use disorder besides alcohol use disorder, as determined by a qualified professional (i.e., psychologist, psychiatrist)

Trial design

Primary purpose: Basic Science

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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62 participants in 2 patient groups

Dynamic Visual Noise (DVN)

Experimental group

Treatment:

Other: Dynamic Visual Noise (DVN)

Static Visual Noise (SVN)

Sham Comparator group

Treatment:

Other: Static Visual Noise (SVN)