Cognitive moderators of alcohol's effects on anxiety.
The present study was designed to test the prediction from the attention-allocation model that intoxication in the absence of a pleasant distractor will fail to produce anxiolytic effects. A second prediction, that the sequence of intoxication and exposure to the anxiety-producing situation would influence alcohol's effects, was also tested. Subjects were male social drinkers who received an 0.85 g/kg dose of alcohol or a placebo. Conventional statistical analysis of the results indicated an anxiolytic effect of alcohol on heart rate but a problem with this analysis is identified. An alternative interpretation provides no support for an anxiolytic effect. Exposure to the anxiety-producing stimulus prior to intoxication led to greater heart rate reactivity than if it followed intoxication.
Sayette
M A
MA
Wilson
G T
GT
Carpenter
J A
JA
D000328:Adult; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000523:psychology*; D000435:Alcoholic Intoxication / Q000523:psychology; D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology*; D001143:Arousal / Q000187:drug effects; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012718:Set, Psychology