Effects of chess-based cognitive remediation training as therapy add-on in alcohol and tobacco use disorders: protocol of a randomised, controlled clinical fMRI trial.

Background: Alcohol and tobacco use disorders (AUD, TUD) are frequent, both worldwide and in the German population, and cognitive impairments are known to facilitate instances of relapse. Cognitive training has been proposed for enhancing cognitive functioning and possibly improving treatment outcome in mental disorders. However, these effects and underlying neurobiological mechanisms are not yet fully understood regarding AUD and TUD.