Alcohol-induced impairment of behavioral control: effects on the alteration and suppression of prepotent responses *.

Objective: Alcohol use in humans is associated with aggression and other socially inappropriate behaviors. These adverse effects have been attributed to an acute impairment of behavioral control, and research findings indicate that inhibitory aspects of behavioral control might be particularly vulnerable to the effects of alcohol. The present study tested the degree to which alcohol-induced impairment of behavioral control is due to a specific impairment of inhibitory mechanisms or due to a general information processing deficit. Method: Forty subjects (29 men) performed a cued reaction time task before and after receiving 0.65 g/kg alcohol or a placebo. Subjects performed the task under ...

<.001). Table 1 shows slower RTs in the response alteration condition. No other main effects or interactions were significant (p's><.001) due to the reports of greater subjective intoxication under alcohol than placebo. The mean (SD) rating of subjective intoxication was 59.6 (24.8) for the alcohol group and 9.1 (9.9) for the placebo group. No other effects were significant (p's><.001) owing to higher beverage ratings reported by subjects in the alcohol groups. Together, those in the alcohol groups rated their beverage as having a mean (SD) alcohol content of 5.3 (2.0) bottles of beer. The placebo groups rated their beverage as having a mean alcohol content of 1.8 (1.6) bottles of beer. No other effects were significant (p's>

Related newspaper, magazine, and journal articles:

See all results. Or, try our Advanced Search.

Newsweek Harper's Magazine The Washington Post Chicago Tribune Crain's Chicago Business PRNewswire Pediatric News The Nation Advertising Age The Economist (US) A FREE trial gives you access to over 60 million articles! Access over 3,500 publications with a FREE trial!