Effects of Alcohol on Persistent Effort and Deductive Thinking During the Preparation Phase of the Creative Process

According to the four stage model of creativity (Wallas, 1926/1970) the first stage is a phase of preparation, which requires a persistent intellectual effort over time and ability to reason deductively. The present study explored whether alcohol intoxication would impair these two abilities. 42 men and women were randomly assigned to either an Alcohol, a Placebo, or a Control group. After drinking subjects completed two tests measuring persistent effort and deductive reasoning. Results indicated that the Alcohol and Placebo groups were impaired with respect to persistent effort and that the Alcohol group also was impaired with respect to deductive reasoning. Consequences for the creative production under alcohol intoxication were discussed.     

Women''s yielding to social group pressure as a function of alcohol and type of pressure

Thirty-six women participated in an experiment exploring whether alcohol intoxication facilitates yielding to social persuasive information. Subjects were randomly assigned to either an Alcohol, a Placebo, or a Control Group. The alcohol dose was 1.0 ml of 100% alcohol/kg body weight. Subjects first estimated the length of a line and were then given faked feedback from either a male or a female peer reference group. This procedure was repeated 60 times. Analyses indicated that the Placebo group yielded more often than the Alcohol group irrespective of type of feedback. A measure of locus of control indicated no significant mean differences as a function of alcohol group but correlations between externality and yielding were strong for placebo subjects, that is, externally oriented placebo subjects yielded more than internally oriented placebo subjects. This was discussed in terms of feelings uneasiness caused by the discrepancy between feelings of intoxication and information about drink content.     

Effects of alcohol on cognitive performance measured with Stroop's Color Word Test

An experiment was performed to test whether alcohol intoxication leads to cognitive disinhibition as measured by the Color Word Test. In psychoanalytic terms, it was hypothesized that alcohol would decrease secondary process functioning leading to disinhibition and so make it easier to perform a primary process function. 24 men and 24 women participated and were randomly assigned to an Alcohol group, a Placebo group or a Control group. The alcohol dose was 1.0 ml of 100% alcohol/kg body weight. No statistically significant differences were found on any of the three dependent measures, number of errors, number of hesitations and total time needed, except that men in the Alcohol group needed significantly longer time to complete the test. These results indicate that cognitive disinhibition is not valid as an explanation for alcohol-related changes in cognitive functioning.     

Alcohol intoxication alters cognitive skills mediated by frontal and temporal brain regions

Alcohol intoxication affects frontal and temporal brain areas and may functionally impair cognitive processes mediated by these regions. This study examined this hypothesis by testing the effects of alcohol on sustained attention, impulsivity, and verbal memory. Sober and placebo control groups were used to distinguish pharmacological from expectancy effects of alcohol. One hundred nine university students were assigned to an alcohol (low, medium, or high dose), placebo or sober group. Moderate and high doses of alcohol impaired all cognitive measures. A gender effect was revealed in that alcohol impaired sustained attention in males, but not females. Both sustained attention and verbal memory exhibited a U-shaped pattern, in that the medium-dose alcohol group showed the greatest impairment. This study adds to knowledge about the effects of alcohol intoxication on frontally- and temporally-mediated cognitive function. These findings have specific relevance for heavy-drinking undergraduate populations, particularly in light of the fact that repeated alcohol administration produces persistent changes in brain neurocircuitry.     

Effects of alcohol intoxication on metamemory and on retrieval from long-term memory

In a balanced-placebo design, people expected either an alcohol drink or placebo drink and consumed either alcohol (1 ml/kg) or placebo. Shortly thereafter, each person attempted to recall the answers to general-information questions (e.g., "What is the capital of Chile?"), made confidence judgments about the accuracy of recall, made feeling-of-knowing judgments on all nonrecalled items, and received a recognition test. Unanticipated outcomes included: Alcohol intoxication significantly hindered recall from long-term memory, contrary to previous conclusions that alcohol does not affect retrieval; people's expectancy of alcohol had no significant effect on memory or metamemory performance, contrary to its established effects on other kinds of performance; and alcohol intoxication produced no significant overconfidence in judgments about recall or in feeling-of-knowing judgments, contrary to the overconfidence produced in other kinds of judgments such as an intoxicated person's assessment of his driving ability. This last outcome implies that alcohol intoxication does not produce a general lowering of the threshold for confidence but rather has effects that are situation specific.     

Effects of alcohol and frustration on experimental graffiti

This study aimed to examine effects between alcohol and frustration in regard to graffiti. Forty-two subjects, 21 men and 21 women were randomly assigned in equal numbers to each of the three experimental groups, namely a Control group, an Alcohol group, and an Alcohol+Frustration group (alcohol dose: 1 ml 100% alcohol/kg body weight). For the purposes of this experiment, a test (AET) was constructed that provided scores of "scrawling-graffiti" (i.e., the amount of scrawling on pictures), "destruction", "aggression", and "sexuality". An elaboration test and a test measuring the "dispositional optimism" were also applied. The primary results indicated that (a) the Alcohol+Frustration group scored significantly higher on scrawling-graffiti compared to the Control group, (b) female subjects performed graffiti-scrawling to a greater extent than male subjects in all three groups, (c) women scored significantly higher on elaboration as compared to men. These results were interpreted as supporting the hypothesis that alcohol intake by itself is unlikely to induce destructive behavior unless accompanied by a "provocative" factor (e.g. frustration) that precipitates the putative expressions of aggressiveness.     

Impact of alcohol on sexual decision making: Intentions to have unprotected sex

The impact of alcohol on intentions to have sex with a new partner and the antecedents of intentions were investigated in three studies (N = 139, 60, and 218, respectively). In all three studies, respondents were intoxicated or not intoxicated with alcohol and completed measures based on the Theory of Planned Behaviour in relation to having sex whilst imagining him- or her-self in the scenario. The scenario described unprotected sex between two individuals not in an existing relationship. Consistently across studies, intoxication had a significant effect on intentions for men but not for women. Also consistently across studies, affective attitudes were significantly stronger determinants of intentions for women than for men. Alcohol intoxication consistently moderated the impact of affective attitudes on intentions in women but not men, with greater intoxication associated with stronger impacts (Studies 1, 2, and 3). Implications for understanding the impacts of alcohol intoxication on sexual decision making in men and women are discussed.     

An experimental examination of alcohol consumption,alcohol expectancy,and self‐blame on willingness to report a hypothetical rape

This study experimentally examined the role of victim alcohol intoxication, and self‐blame in perceiving and reporting rape to the police using a hypothetical interactive rape scenario. Participants (N = 79) were randomly assigned to consume alcohol (mean BAC = 0.07%) or tonic water before they engaged in the scenario. Alcohol expectancy was manipulated, and participant beliefs about the beverage they thought they had consumed and their feelings of intoxication were measured. Alcohol consumption and expectancy did not affect the likelihood that the nonconsensual intercourse depicted in the scenario was perceived and would be reported as rape. Participants with higher levels of self‐blame were less likely to say they would report the hypothetical rape. Self‐blame levels were higher for participants who believed they had consumed alcohol, and were associated with increased feelings of intoxication. The implications are discussed.     

The effects of alcohol and the salience of aggressive cues on triggered displaced aggression

Alcohol increases the aggression-augmenting effects of provocation. Theories of alcohol and aggression suggest that impaired cognitive processing induced by acute intoxication leads individuals to process aggression-inducing social cues differently depending on whether they are high or low in salience. We examined the effects of intoxication and aggressive cue salience within the triggered displaced aggression paradigm. An ethnically diverse sample of 74 primarily young adult participants (40 men and 34 women; M=23.28, SD=3.14 years) were recruited from the university community and surrounding area. All participants were provoked by an experimenter, randomly assigned to a 2 (alcohol condition: alcohol vs. placebo) x 2 (trigger salience: high vs. low salience) between-subjects design, and then given the opportunity to aggress against the undeserving triggering agent. As expected, intoxication combined with a salient triggering cue elicited the most displaced aggression among all conditions. These results provide the first evidence that the effect of alcohol on triggered displaced aggression is moderated by the salience of the triggering event.     

Analogue drinking assessment: Sensation seeking and gender

This study assessed the relationship between sensation seeking measured as a trait variable and drinking behaviors observed unobtrusively in the laboratory. It was hypothesized that high-sensation-seeking subjects would consume more alcohol than low sensation seekers and experience greater enhancement of positive moods and body sensations associated with intoxication. Thirty female and 31 male subjects divided into high- and low-sensation-seeking subgroups participated in an ad libitum drinking situation with the manifest task of taste rating three types of vodka (actually 95% alcohol) or tonic. Dependent variables included beverage consumption, positive/negative mood states, body sensations, breath estimates of blood alcohol levels, and self-rated level of intoxication. All subjects reported feeling the effects of alcohol. Contrary to predictions, high-sensation-seeking subjects neither consumed more alcohol than their low-sensation-seeking counterparts nor drank more alcohol than tonic, Paradoxically, low-sensation-seeking women displayed significantly greater alcohol intake and intoxication than all other groups. Possible explanations for findings were considered as well as the necessity for multimethod assessments of both predictor (i.e., sensation seeking) and criterion (i.e., alcohol consumption) variables across time and situations.This research was supported by Grant Award AA04042-03 from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism to the first and third authors. Special Appreciation is expressed to Anne T. Patsiokas, Susan W. Altman, Victoria Molony-Sinnott, and Pamela J. Thompson for their invaluable assistance in collecting and analyzing the data.     

Effectuation of adaptive stability and postural alignment strategies are decreased by alcohol intoxication

Human stability control is a complex process comprising contributions from several partly independent mechanisms such as coordination, feedback and feed-forward control, and adaptation. Acute alcohol intoxication impairs these functions and is recognized as a major contributor to fall traumas. The study aimed to investigate how alcohol intoxication at .06% and .10% blood alcohol concentration (BAC) affected the movement spans and control of posture alignment. The angular positions of the head, shoulder, hip and knees relative to the ankles were measured with a 3D motion analysis system in 25 healthy adults during standing with eyes open or closed and with or without vibratory balance perturbations.Alcohol intoxication significantly increased the movement spans of the head, shoulders, hip and knees in anteroposterior and lateral directions during quiet stance (p ⩽ .047 and p ⩽ .003) and balance perturbations (p < .001, both directions). Alcohol intoxication also decreased the ability to reduce the movement spans through adaptation in both anteroposterior (p ⩽ .011) and lateral (p ⩽ .004) directions. When sober and submitted to balance perturbations, the subjects aligned the head, shoulders, hip and knees more forward relative to the ankle joint (p < .001), hence adopting a more resilient posture increasing the safety margin for backward falls. Alcohol intoxication significantly delayed this forward realignment (p ⩽ .022). Alcohol intoxication did not cause any significant posture realignment in the lateral direction. Thus, initiation of adaptive posture realignments to alcohol or other disruptions might be context dependent and associated with reaching a certain level of stability threats.     

Alcohol intoxicated witnesses' interpretation of social behavior in intimate partner violence

Alcohol intoxication affects social information processing, though research is scarce regarding how alcohol affected eyewitnesses' perception of social interaction within an applied forensic context. In the present study, the effects of alcohol intoxication on eyewitnesses' perception of interaction in intimate partner violence (IPV) were investigated. The participants (n = 152) were randomized to an experimental (alcohol) or control group (juice). After consumption, they viewed a filmed IPV scenario where both interacting parties were confrontational. Afterwards, they rated the involved parties' behavior. Several behaviors were perceived in a similar manner by intoxicated and sober participants, but intoxicated participants perceived both parties' attacking behaviors and some of the man's prosocial behaviors differently than sober participants. Hence, alcohol affected some, but not all, kinds of social behaviors investigated in the present study. This would be of interest to legal praxis and to future studies on intoxicated witnesses to interpersonal violence.     

Alcohol intoxication and memory for events: a snapshot of alcohol myopia in a real-world drinking scenario

Alcohol typically has a detrimental impact on memory across a variety of encoding and retrieval conditions (e.g., Mintzer, 2007; Ray & Bates, 2006). No research has addressed alcohol's effect on memory for lengthy and interactive events and little has tested alcohol's effect on free recall. In this study 94 participants were randomly assigned to alcohol, placebo, or control groups and consumed drinks in a bar-lab setting while interacting with a "bartender". Immediately afterwards all participants freely recalled the bar interaction. Consistent with alcohol myopia theory, intoxicated participants only differed from placebo and control groups when recalling peripheral information. Expanding on the original hypervigilance hypothesis, placebo participants showed more conservative reporting behaviour than the alcohol or control groups by providing more uncertain and "don't know" responses. Thus, alcohol intoxication had confined effects on memory for events, supporting and extending current theories.     

Cognition and metacognition at extreme altitudes on Mount Everest

The FACTRETRIEVAL2 test battery, which assesses both retrieval of general information from memory and metacognition about that retrieval, was administered to people before and after a recent expedition to Mount Everest and at extreme altitudes above 6,400 m (higher than any mountain in North America or Europe). The major findings were as follows: First, the same extreme altitudes already known to impair learning did not affect either accuracy or latency of retrieval, and this robustness of retrieval occurred for both recall and forced-choice recognition. Second, extreme altitude did affect metacognition: The climbers showed a decline in their feeling of knowing both while at extreme altitude and after returning to Kathmandu (i.e., both an effect and an aftereffect of extreme altitude). Third, extreme altitude had different effects than alcohol intoxication (previously assessed by Nelson. McSpadden, Fromme, & Marlatt, 1986). Alcohol intoxication affected retrieval without affecting metacognition, whereas extreme altitude affected metacognition without affecting retrieval; this different pattern for extreme altitude versus alcohol intoxication implies that (a) hypoxia does not always yield the same outcome as alcohol intoxication and (b) neither retrieval nor metacognition is strictly more sensitive than the other for detecting changes in independent variables.     

Alcohol and suicide death among American Indians of New Mexico: 1980-1998

The relationship between alcohol use prior to suicide was explored among American Indian decedents in New Mexico for the years 1980 through 1998. The suicide data were collected from New Mexico Vital Statistics and toxicology reports from the New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator and matched on a case-by-case basis. Detailed analyses were undertaken for all cases of resident New Mexico Indians from the Navajo, Pueblo, and Apache cultures. Alcohol was detected in 69% of all suicides of American Indians with some variance by major tribal cultural groups (range = 62.1% to 84.4%). This is higher than in suicides among the overall New Mexico population (44.3%). The mean blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of the drinking Indian decedents at suicide was 0.198 (+/- SD of .088). Mean BACs were high for both males (0.199) and females (0.180) who had been drinking. Over 90% of the Indian decedents who had been drinking had BACs greater than the legal intoxication level of 0.08. The Navajo had the lowest percentage of cases that were alcohol involved, and their mean BAC was lower than the other two cultural groups. Alcohol use for completed suicides also varied somewhat by age, sex, method of suicide, and place of occurrence, but very little by whether the decedent was an on or off reservation resident. Analyses indicated that alcohol use prior to suicide was significantly more associated with male suicides than for females, and it was negatively correlated for those who died by overdose and also those using other drugs at suicide. Otherwise, alcohol use did not significantly differentiate American Indian suicides by age, use of firearms, hanging, use of other methods, or residence, for the presence of alcohol was a factor very commonly associated with all of these variables. Heavy alcohol consumption is, therefore, an important factor in over two thirds of all completed suicides among the Indians of New Mexico.     

Alcohol intoxication and memory for events: A snapshot of alcohol myopia in a real-world drinking scenario

Alcohol typically has a detrimental impact on memory across a variety of encoding and retrieval conditions (e.g., Mintzer, 2007; Ray & Bates, 2006). No research has addressed alcohol's effect on memory for lengthy and interactive events and little has tested alcohol's effect on free recall. In this study 94 participants were randomly assigned to alcohol, placebo, or control groups and consumed drinks in a bar-lab setting while interacting with a “bartender”. Immediately afterwards all participants freely recalled the bar interaction. Consistent with alcohol myopia theory, intoxicated participants only differed from placebo and control groups when recalling peripheral information. Expanding on the original hypervigilance hypothesis, placebo participants showed more conservative reporting behaviour than the alcohol or control groups by providing more uncertain and “don't know” responses. Thus, alcohol intoxication had confined effects on memory for events, supporting and extending current theories.     

Effects of Alcohol Intoxication on Parenting Behavior in Interactions With Child Confederates Exhibiting Normal or Deviant Behaviors

Experimental analogue methods were used to study how acute alcohol intoxication in parents influences their perceptions of and reactions to child behaviors, as well as their strategies for management of those behaviors. All participating parents had a grade school-aged son, but in half the cases this target child had a diagnosed externalizing disorder, whereas for the remaining half neither the target son nor any other offspring of the parents evidenced any psychopathology. Equal numbers of married fathers, married mothers, and single mothers from each of these groups received either alcoholic or nonalcoholic beverages prior to videotaped interactions with male child confederates who, depending on condition, enacted behaviors characteristic of either normal boys or boys with attention deficit hyperactivity/conduct/oppositional defiant disorders (ADHD/CD/ODD). Results indicated that intoxicated parents rated their ADHD/CD/ODD child partners as less deviant than did sober parents. Alcohol intoxication caused all participant groups to exhibit less attention and productive work and more commands, indulgences, and off-task talk in the interactions. Implications for better understanding of the role of psychosocial factors in the correlation between adult drinking problems and childhood behavior disorders are discussed.     

Intact retention in acute alcohol amnesia

Research on alcohol amnesia has focused on memory processes that are disrupted during intoxication. The present experiment examined the possibility that certain memory processes might be resistant to the amnesic effects of alcohol. Intoxicated and sober subjects studied a list of 29 words. They were then given one of three different retention tests: free recall, identification of degraded words based on the procedure used by Warrington and Weiskrantz (1970), and yes/no recognition. As expected, free recall was significantly impaired by alcohol intoxication. In contrast, in the identification test, intoxicated subjects benefited to the same degree as sober subjects from prior exposure to the items. The two groups did not differ in immediate recognition memory. The results of the free-recall and identification tasks are similar to findings with chronic amnesic patients and suggest that perceptual fluency is not affected by alcohol, whereas elaborative processes supporting recall are particularly sensitive to disruption during intoxication. The failure to find recognition impairment at the level of intoxication used in this study distinguishes temporary alcohol amnesia from chronic amnesia.     

Differential effects of alcohol on associative versus item memory

Alcohol has detrimental effects on a range of cognitive processes, the most prominent being episodic memory. These deficits appear functionally similar to those observed within the normal aging population. We investigated whether an associative memory deficit, as found in older adults, would also be evident in young adults moderately intoxicated by alcohol. Participants were shown unrelated word pairs and then tested on both their item recognition (old/new item?) and associative recognition (intact/recombined pair?). Half the participants were under the influence of alcohol whereas the other half were sober. Alcohol impaired memory performance but significantly more so for associative than for item memory. Moreover, within the alcohol group, the associative memory deficit was significantly related to the amount of alcohol consumed. The findings suggest that not all aspects of episodic memory are equally impaired by alcohol, which may have practical implications for criminal investigations involving eye witnesses who have consumed alcohol.     

Deleterious effects of alcohol intoxication: diminished cognitive control and its behavioral consequences

The authors tested the hypothesis that impaired behavioral performance during intoxication results partly from alcohol's deleterious effects on cognitive control. The impact of alcohol on perseverative behavior was examined with an n-back working memory task that included manipulations of task complexity and prepotency of inclinations to respond or withhold responding. Thirty-two social drinkers (16 men) participated in either an alcohol (.075g/100ml) or a no-alcohol condition. Alcohol increased perseveration of prepotent, task-inappropriate response patterns only under cognitively demanding (heavy memory load) conditions. This effect was evident for both commission errors (response persistence despite contingencies altered to require restraint) and omission errors (failure to respond when contingencies were revised to encourage action). Findings suggested that alcohol-induced perseveration arises from impairments in cognitive control.