# A Smartphone App to Capture Impaired Inhibitory Control as a Novel Moderate Drinking Tool for Young Adults

> **NIH NIH R21** · UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA · 2020 · $191,524

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Young adult drinking is a public health issue. Current interventions yield small effect drinking reductions, thus,
new approaches are needed. Smartphone applications (apps) have great potential for drinking moderation.
Almost all young adults own a smartphone and most are open to technology use to moderate drinking. Though
there are many moderate drinking apps, quality varies and there is no evidence any are more efficacious than
a control condition for young adults. Thus, there is a knowledge gap as to which apps may be helpful. Brief
interventions have shown personalized feedback based on motivational interviewing (M.I.) has efficacy, but
these interventions give feedback about general patterns only, not drinking and impairment in the moment.
Theory and evidence emphasize that slowing pace of drinking is difficult. These findings suggest young adults
need additional help, preferably while drinking, to slow their pace of alcohol use. Apps have great potential for
needed in-the-moment intervention. There are no efficacious, in-the-moment behavioral interventions for young
drinkers. Human laboratory studies support perceived impairment as a focus of an in-the-moment, moderate
drinking app. Two studies using different cognitive tasks (including a driving simulator) found heavier drinking
young adults underrate impairment more than light drinkers. Simulated driving results in particular suggest
serious consequences from misperceived impairment. An app that provides accurate feedback on impairment
could increase perceived impairment and reduce drinking. This study will test an app providing in-the-moment
feedback on impaired inhibitory control as an adjunct to an existing, M.I.-based, brief web-based intervention
that gives feedback on overall drinking. App feedback will be tied to performance on the cued go/no-go task,
which tests ability to respond quickly to “go” targets (activation) while withholding responses to “no-go” targets
(inhibition). Moderate doses to blood alcohol content (BAC) .05-.06% reliably lead to inhibition errors, but
higher doses are usually needed for “go” reaction time (RT) to slow. Thus, ability to respond remains but ability
to inhibit is impaired, which has negative implications. Using M.I.- consonant language, feedback will compare
RT and inhibition failures after alcohol to RT and errors pre-drinking. The experimental app, which will be
derived from a larger app in a current study, will be compared to 2 control conditions in which the task is
completed without this novel feedback. Heavy drinking young adults (N=99) will be randomized to 1 of the 3
app conditions; dosed to BAC=.06% in small groups in a bar lab; then use the experimental or control app,
followed by opportunity to self-administer more alcohol. Primary outcomes will be differences between study
conditions on BAC and alcohol self-administered. During a 4-week period post-session, all participants will use
the experimental app in actual drinkin...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9932857
- **Project number:** 5R21AA026918-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA
- **Principal Investigator:** Liana Senneth Elliott Hone
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $191,524
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-06-01 → 2023-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9932857

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9932857, A Smartphone App to Capture Impaired Inhibitory Control as a Novel Moderate Drinking Tool for Young Adults (5R21AA026918-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9932857. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*