Influence of Alcohol and Cognitive Capacity on Visual Number Judgements

We used an enumeration task to address the question of whether acute alcohol intoxication reduces cognitive or perceptual capacity. To control for individual differences in cognitive resources, we took a sober record of each participant’s working memory capacity (WMC). Alcohol was expected to impair enumeration performance, either for the automatic parallel counting of small stimulus sets indicating a perceptual impairment, or the controlled counting or estimating of larger sets indicating a cognitive impairment. Enumeration showed an overall decline in accuracy following a vodka beverage and the deficit was negligible for small sets, which is inconsistent with a loss of perceptual capacity. Having a higher WMC facilitated the enumeration of larger sets and the correlation between WMC and accuracy was stronger in the alcohol condition suggesting that low-WMC participants were more impaired by the beverage. Our findings therefore suggest that alcohol diminished cognitive rather than perceptual capacity.

Consumer perception and behaviour related to low-alcohol wine: do people overcompensate?

Objective:Compared with standard wines, low-alcohol wines may have several social and health benefits. Innovative production processes have led to high-quality light wines. It is, however, unclear how consumers perceive and consume these alcohol-reduced wines. The current study aimed to investigate how people evaluate low-alcohol wine (Sauvignon Blanc) and if the reduction in alcohol and the information that a wine is low in alcohol influences consumption.Design:Randomised controlled trial (RCT).Setting:Participants were invited to a wine tasting and randomised into one of the three conditions: they either tasted a ‘new white wine’ (12·5 % alcohol content), a ‘new low-alcohol white wine’ (8·0 % alcohol content) or they tasted the low-alcohol wine but were not aware that the wine was reduced in alcohol (low-alcohol, blinded).Participants:Ninety participants (42 % male, mean age = 41 (sd 14) years).Results:Mean comparisons showed similar ratings for the low-alcohol conditions and the standard alcohol condition (mean > 5·6/7). The mean consumed amount across all conditions did not differ (162 (sd 71) ml, (F2,86 = 0·43, P > 0·05)), hence people who tasted the low-alcohol wine consumed approximately 30 % less alcohol. However, participants were willing to pay more for the normal wine compared with the low-alcohol wine, (F2,87 = 3·14, P < 0·05).Conclusions:Participants did not alter their drinking behaviour in response to the reduced alcohol content, and the low-alcohol wine was perceived positively. There might be an emerging market potential for wine of reduced alcohol content, but consumers may not be willing to pay the same price as for the standard wine.

The Impact of Alcohol Hangover on Simulated Driving Performance during a ‘Commute to Work’—Zero and Residual Alcohol Effects Compared

Driving is increasing across the world and road traffic accidents are a major cause of serious injuries and fatalities. The link between alcohol consumption and impaired driving has long been established and has led to legislation in many countries, with enforcement of legal limits based on blood alcohol concentration levels. Alcohol hangover research is an emerging field with a range of laboratory and naturalistic studies now clearly demonstrating the significant impairments that can result from hangover, even when alcohol levels are measured at or close to zero the day following a social drinking occasion. Driving is a commonplace activity but requires competency with a range of complex and potentially demanding tasks. Driving impaired can have serious consequences, including death and serious injury. There have been only limited alcohol hangover driving studies. The studies presented examined the consequences of alcohol hangover with a driving simulator contrasting a group with zero residual alcohol (N = 26) next day and another with residual alcohol (N = 26) assessed with breathalyzer in the morning before undertaking a 20 min commute to work. All participants completed a morning drive after a night without alcohol consumption and another after a night of social drinking. The driving scenarios were relatively demanding including traffic and pedestrians, traffic lights and other potential hazards in a mixed rural and urban journey. Subjective hangover and workload were assessed in addition to a range of driving performance variables, including divided attention, steering control and driving violations. Analyses contrasted driving in the no alcohol condition with the residual alcohol condition. The combined groups data (N = 52) was contrasted with the zero and residual alcohol groups. Significant contrasts were found for a range of driving measures, including divided attention, vehicle control, and driving violations as well as perceived workload. The pattern of impairment was broadly similar across both groups, indicating that whether or not residual alcohol was present, consistent driving impairment was seen. The relatively high number of significant variables may reflect the increased cognitive demand of the 20 min commute drive including busy and complex urban environments. This was also reflected in the significant increase in perceived workload recorded across the 6 dimensions of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Task Load Index (NASA-TLX). Associations between subjective measures and driving performance with hangover suggested a potential lack of awareness of impairment, though were limited in number. The overall findings indicate that the levels of impairment seen reflect those seen with alcohol impaired driving, even when breath alcohol is zero.

The Effects of Alcohol Hangover on Mood and Performance Assessed at Home

The current study evaluated the next day consequences of a social night of drinking compared to a no alcohol night, with standardised mood and portable screen-based performance measures assessed in the morning at participants’ homes, and a breathalyser screen for zero alcohol. A mixed sex group (n = 20) took part in the study. Participants reported consuming on average 16.9 units (135 g) alcohol, resulting in a hangover rating of 60 (out of 100) compared to 0.3 following the no alcohol night. Statistical significance comparisons contrasting the hangover with the no alcohol condition revealed an increase in negative mood and irritability during hangover and an (unexpected) increase in risk and thrill seeking. Performance scores showed an overall slowing of responses across measures, but with less impact on errors. The results support the description of hangover as a general state of cognitive impairment, reflected in slower responses and reduced accuracy across a variety of measures of cognitive function. This suggests a general level of impairment due to hangover, as well as increased negative mood. The use of a naturalistic design enabled the impact of more typical levels of alcohol associated with real life social consumption to be assessed, revealing wide ranging neurocognitive impairment with these higher doses. This study has successfully demonstrated the sensitivity of home-based assessment of the impact of alcohol hangover on a range of subjective and objective measures. The observed impairments, which may significantly impair daily activities such as driving a car or job performance, should be further investigated and taken into account by policy makers.

Acute alcohol effects on impulsive choice in adolescents

Background: Neurodevelopmental and alcohol-induced changes in decision-making have been proposed to critically influence impulsive behaviour in adolescents. Objective: This study tested the influence of acute alcohol administration on impulsive choice in adolescents. Methods: Fifty-four males aged 18–19 years were tested in a single-blind placebo-controlled cross-over design. During alcohol administration (infusion resulting in an arterial blood alcohol concentration of 80 mg%) and placebo condition (saline infusion), participants performed a task battery providing estimates of delay discounting, probability discounting for gains, for losses and loss aversion, and also rated subjectively experienced alcohol effects. Additionally, baseline alcohol consumption (Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test, blood phosphatidylethanol levels), motives (Drinking Motive Questionnaire, Alcohol Expectancy Questionnaire and Obsessive Compulsive Drinking Scale), family history and self-report measures of impulsivity (Barratt Impulsiveness Scale, Substance Use Risk Profile Scale) were provided. Results: No overall effects of treatment on choice behaviour were found. However, individual differences were observed. In the alcohol condition, more impulsive choice tendencies for delay discounting were associated with higher subjectively experienced alcohol effects. Further, higher risk aversion for probabilistic gains and higher loss aversion during alcohol condition were related to higher levels of real-life alcohol consumption and a family history of alcohol problems, respectively. Finally, the time to make a decision was substantially shortened for choices involving negative prospects. Conclusions: Contrary to common beliefs, acute alcohol intoxication did not generally incite impulsive decision-making. It rather appears that alcohol-induced behavioural changes in adolescents vary considerably depending on prior experiences and subjective effects of alcohol.

2298 Central autonomic network dysfunction implicated in alcohol-related intimate partner violence

OBJECTIVES/SPECIFIC AIMS: Most incidents of partner violence occur when one or both partners have been drinking, however, the mechanism through which this association exists is unclear. The neural circuits that support self-regulation of emotion and social behavior, as well as autonomic influences on the heart, are co-localized in the brain and represent an integrated bidirectional regulatory system. These physiological regulatory processes are mediated by a neural substrate known as the central autonomic network which includes the peripheral autonomic nervous system. The central autonomic network modulates biobehavioral resources in emotion by flexibly responding to physiological arousal in response to changing situational demands, and serves a fundamental role in emotion regulation and goal-directed motor behavior, and this circuit can be indexed with heart rate variability (HRV). METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: In total, 17 distressed violent (DV) partners (11 females, 6 males) were matched to a sample of distressed nonviolent (DNV) partners (7 female, 6 males) were matched on age, sex, and relationship satisfaction and participated in a placebo-controlled alcohol administration study with an emotion-regulation task during which electroencephalography, HRV, and galvanic skin response (GSR) measures were collected. In the alcohol condition, participants were administered a mixture of 100 proof vodka and cranberry juice calculated to raise their blood alcohol concentration to 0.08%. In the placebo condition, participants consumed a volume of juice equivalent to that consumed in the alcohol condition, but without alcohol. Alcohol and placebo conditions were counter-balanced across participants as were the presentation the blocks of evocative and neutral partner stimuli and emotion-regulation condition (watch vs. do not react). RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: Results show that DV partners show greater cortical arousal than DNV partners on measures event-related spectral perturbations, which are mean log event-loced deviations from baseline-mean power at each frequency of the electroencephalography power spectra, when intoxicated and viewing evocative partner stimuli in the “do not react” emotion regulation condition. Results also show a statistically significant 2 (alcohol vs. placebo)×2 (watch vs. do not react)×2 (DV partners vs. DNV partners) interaction of the respiratory sinus arrhythmia measure of HRV when viewing evocative partner behavior (F=7.102, p=0.019, partial η2=0.353). Findings indicate that DV partners have lower HRV than DNV partners across conditions, but particularly when acutely intoxicated and trying not to react to their partners’ evocative behavior. Similarly, results also show a statistically significantly 2 (alcohol vs. placebo)×2 (watch vs. do not react)×2 (DV partners vs. DNV partners) interaction on GSR (F=71.452, p=0.000, partial η2=0.749). GSR findings indicate that DV partners also have lower GSR when acutely intoxicated and trying not to react to their partners’ evocative behavior. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE OF IMPACT: These results suggest that increases in intimate partner violence under acute alcohol intoxication may be the result of dysfunction of the central autonomic network, especially when DV partners are trying to suppress a behavioral response to their partners’ evocative behavior in conflict. The neurophysiological patterns evidenced by DV partners is consistent with a state of vigilance to threat, and reduced ability inhibit prepotent, but inappropriate responses. They also suggest that HRV may be an important target for intervention with partner with a history of intimate partner violence. One method may be heart rate variability biofeedback which has been shown to increase parasympathetic nervous system functioning, autonomic stability, and emotion regulation.

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OBJECTIVES/SPECIFIC AIMS: The objective of this research was to investigate the effect of alcohol and evocative stimuli on heart rate variability (HRV) in partners with a history of intimate partner violence in a placebo-controlled alcohol administration study with an emotion-regulation task. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: In total, 17 partners (9 females, 8 males) with a history of partner violence participated in a placebo-controlled alcohol administration study with an emotion-regulation task during which HRV measures were collected. In the alcohol condition, participants were administered a mixture of 100 proof vodka and cranberry juice calculated to raise their blood alcohol concentration (BAC) to 0.08%. In the placebo condition, participants consumed a volume of juice equivalent to that consumed in the alcohol condition, but without alcohol. Alcohol and placebo conditions were counter-balanced across participants as were the presentation the blocks of evocative and neutral partner stimuli. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: Controlling for baseline HRV, there was a significant main effect of stimuli (evocative vs. neutral partner stimuli) on HRV in intoxicated partners, F1,16=16.28, p=0.004. There was also a significant main effect of regulation on HRV under conditions acute alcohol intoxication, F1,16=23.55, p=0.001. These effects tell us that intoxicated partners experienced reduced HRV when exposed to evocative stimuli from their partners. These effects also tell us that under acute alcohol intoxication, partners were less able to regulate their emotion when exposed to evocative stimuli than when they consumed a placebo beverage. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE OF IMPACT: These results suggest that increases in intimate partner violence under acute alcohol intoxication may be the result of reduce HRV. This reduction in HRV would contribute to partners’ inability to response with adaptively in conflict when intoxicated. They also suggest that HRV may be an important target for intervention with partner with a history of intimate partner violence. One method may be Heart Rate Variability Biofeedback which has been shown to increase parasympathetic nervous system functioning, autonomic stability, and emotion regulation.

The effects of alcohol on heart rate and evaluation of actions in moral dilemma

Despite a great progress in our understanding of alcohol influence on physiological processes and brain function, the mechanisms of alcohol effects on human social behaviour are still unclear. This work is focused on studying whether and how alcohol (ethanol, 1 g/kg) may affect evaluation of moral permissibility of harmful actions and the dynamics of heart rate characteristics during solving moral dilemmas. Subjects (n=40) were tested twice with the time interval of 2-4 months: once they assessed protagonists’ actions in moral dilemmas after drinking an alcoholic beverage and once – after drinking a non-alcoholic beverage (counterbalanced). The results showed that moral judgements did not always change under alcohol influence but when they did, responses shifted in different directions: some individuals began to judge harmful actions as less permissible while others began to judge them as more permissible. A negative correlation was shown between heart rate and time required for solving moral dilemmas in alcohol condition. Alcohol decreased heart rate variability, including a measure of complexity (ApEn). These results are in line with the view that alcohol intake causes a decrease in complexity of behaviour and its system organisation which may represent the general psychophysiological mechanism underlying various effects of alcohol on social behaviour. This work was supported by the Russian Foundation for Humanities (project № 14-06-00680, «Formation of moral judgments as a mechanism of human adaptation for social and cultural environment in norm and under alcohol intoxica- tion») and was performed as part of a research programme of one of the leading scientific schools of Russian Federation «System Psychophysiology» (НШ-9808.2016.6).

An experimental investigation of drunk personality using self and observer reports

Research has shown that drinkers’ “typical drunk personalities” are different from their “typical sober personalities” on each factor of the Five-Factor Model (Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Neuroticism, and Openness). The aim of the current study was to test if these changes can reliably be observed by trained raters during a drinking episode. Participants (N = 156) attended laboratory sessions in same-sex friend groups of 3 to 4 people (43 groups). Half of the groups were administered alcohol (target BAC = .09). Participants engaged in activities designed to elicit a range of personality expression. All sessions were recorded and multiple trained raters (M = 6.96) completed three personality measures based on the footage. Additionally, participants completed selfreports of their “typical” sober and drunk personalities two weeks prior to their sessions, as well as two short personality measures during the session. Results indicate consistent differences in personality among sober and drunk participants across measures, but the nature of the differences varied by reporter (self vs. observer). Specifically, across three scales, observers rated participants in the Alcohol condition higher in Extraversion, but similarly in most other factors (on one measure, Neuroticism was lower in the Alcohol condition). Among the two self-report measures, four and five of the factors demonstrated reliable differences, with Conscientiousness, Intellect, Neuroticism, and Agreeableness (on the pre-session retrospective measure only) reportedly decreasing with intoxication, and Extraversion increasing. These findings demonstrate that self-perceptions of sober-to drunk personality differences are more pervasive than observer-perceptions, but that alcohol-induced changes in Extraversion are robust enough to be detected across measures and reporters.

An experimental investigation of drunk personality using self and observer reports

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] Research has shown that drinkers' "typical drunk personalities" are different from their "typical sober personalities"on each factor of the Five-Factor Model (Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Neuroticism, and Openness). The aim of the current study was to test if these changes can reliably be observed by trained raters during a drinking episode. Participants (N = 156) attended laboratory sessions in same-sex friend groups of 3 to 4 people (43 groups). Half of the groups were administered alcohol (target BAC = .09). Participants engaged in activities designed to elicit a range of personality expression. All sessions were recorded and multiple trained raters (M = 6.96) completed three personality measures based on the footage. Additionally, participants completed self- reports of their “typical” sober and drunk personalities two weeks prior to their sessions, as well as two short personality measures during the session. Results indicate consistent differences in personality among sober and drunk participants across measures, but the nature of the differences varied by reporter (self vs. observer). Specifically, across three scales, observers rated participants in the Alcohol condition higher in Extraversion, but similarly in most other factors (on one measure, Neuroticism was lower in the Alcohol condition). Among the two self-report measures, four and five of the factors demonstrated reliable differences, with Conscientiousness, Intellect, Neuroticism, and Agreeableness (on the pre-session retrospective measure only) reportedly decreasing with intoxication, and Extraversion increasing. These findings demonstrate that self-perceptions of sober-to- drunk personality differences are more pervasive than observer-perceptions, but that alcohol-induced changes in Extraversion are robust enough to be detected across measures and reporters.