Schulte T, Müller-Oehring E M, Strasburger H, Warzel H, Sabel B A
Institute of Medical Psychology, Otto-von-Guericke University of Magdeburg, Medical Faculty, Germany.
Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2001 Feb;154(1):61-9. doi: 10.1007/s002130000603.
While several studies identified divided attention to be sensitive to alcohol effects, the impact of alcohol on covert visual attention is still not clear, despite the latter's important role in perception.
The study tests the effect of acute moderate doses of alcohol on divided and covert attention in right-handed, male volunteers.
The design of the study involved a double-blind trial with an alcohol and a placebo condition; measurements were taken before and after an oral dose of 0.6 g/kg alcohol versus placebo. In the divided-attention task, simultaneous visuo-spatial and auditory stimulation was applied. In a test of covert attention, subjects had to shift their attentional focus according to a central cue, from one location in the visual field to another.
Under the divided-attention condition, reaction times were significantly prolonged after alcohol ingestion compared to placebo. Covert attention pre-post change was also significantly different between the alcohol and placebo groups. There is a reduction of false-cueing disturbance for left-appearing stimuli under moderate alcohol but an increase of disturbance for rightward stimuli, i.e. we found a lateralised pattern of reaction for spatial orienting. In the placebo group, no significant differences in right-left performance were obtained.
The results suggest that sensory-attentional mechanisms play a key role in altered visual perceptual performance after alcohol ingestion. Furthermore, differences between the right and left visual field in the cued target-detection task indicate that alcohol exerts an influence on right-hemispheric attentional priming.
虽然多项研究表明注意力分散对酒精效应敏感，但酒精对隐蔽视觉注意力的影响仍不明确，尽管后者在感知中起着重要作用。
本研究测试急性中等剂量酒精对右利手男性志愿者注意力分散和隐蔽注意力的影响。
本研究设计为酒精组和安慰剂组的双盲试验；在口服0.6 g/kg酒精与安慰剂前后进行测量。在注意力分散任务中，同时施加视觉空间和听觉刺激。在隐蔽注意力测试中，受试者必须根据中央提示将注意力焦点从视野中的一个位置转移到另一个位置。
在注意力分散条件下，与安慰剂相比，摄入酒精后反应时间显著延长。酒精组和安慰剂组在隐蔽注意力前后变化方面也存在显著差异。中等剂量酒精作用下，左侧出现刺激的错误提示干扰减少，但右侧刺激的干扰增加，即我们发现了空间定向反应的偏侧化模式。在安慰剂组中，左右表现未获得显著差异。
结果表明，感觉-注意机制在酒精摄入后视觉感知性能改变中起关键作用。此外，线索目标检测任务中左右视野的差异表明酒精对右半球注意力启动有影响。
