Effects of alcohol on psychophysiological hyperreactivity to nonaversive and aversive stimuli in men at high risk for alcoholism.

Psychophysiological reactivity to nonaversive (1-KHz, 70-db tones) and aversive stimuli (shock) was examined in nonalcoholic men with multigenerational family histories (MFH) of alcoholism and family history negative (FH-) men, while sober and after consuming alcohol. In comparison with FH- Ss, sober MFH Ss had significantly larger skin conductance (SC) orienting responses (ORs), shorter OR latencies, slower habituation rates to the tones, and larger increases in heart rate and vasoconstriction to the shock. Alcohol dampened the magnitude of the SC-OR to the tones and the degree of cardiovascular reactivity to the shocks and increased the habituation rate to the tones in MFH Ss only. Alcohol consumption also increased the SC-OR recovery time in FH- Ss only. The MFH Ss' pattern of psychophysiological hyperreactivity is discussed in terms of a potential dysfunction in stimulus-response regulation.