Monk Rebecca L, Qureshi Adam, Pennington Charlotte R, Hamlin Iain
Edge Hill University, St. Helens Rd., Ormskirk, L39 4QP, UK.
Edge Hill University, St. Helens Rd., Ormskirk, L39 4QP, UK.
Drug Alcohol Depend. 2017 Nov 1;180:26-32. doi: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2017.07.038. Epub 2017 Aug 31.
Prior research demonstrates that individuals who consume alcohol show diminished inhibitory control towards alcohol-related cues. However, such research contrasts predominantly alcoholic appetitive cues with non-alcoholic, non-appetitive cues (e.g., stationary items). As such, it is not clear whether it is specifically the alcoholic nature of the cues that influences impairments in inhibitory control or whether more general appetitive processes are at play.
The current study examined the hitherto untested assertion that the disinhibiting effects of alcohol-related stimuli might generalise to other appetitive liquid stimuli, but not to non-appetitive liquid stimuli.
Fifty-nine participants (Mage=21.63, SD=5.85) completed a modified version of the Stop Signal Task, which exposed them to visual stimuli of three types of liquids: Alcoholic appetitive (e.g., wine), non-alcoholic appetitive (e.g., water) and non-appetitive (e.g., washing-up liquid).
Consistent with predictions, Stop-signal reaction time was significantly longer for appetitive (alcoholic, non-alcoholic) compared to non-appetitive stimuli. Participants were also faster and less error-prone when responding to appetitive relative to non-appetitive stimuli on go-trials. There were no apparent differences in stop signal reaction times between alcoholic and non-alcoholic appetitive products.
These findings suggest that decreases in inhibitory control in response to alcohol-related cues might generalise to other appetitive liquids, possibly due to evaluative conditioning. Implications for existing research methodologies include the use of appetitive control conditions and the diversification of cues within tests of alcohol-related inhibitory control.
先前的研究表明，饮酒者对与酒精相关的线索表现出抑制控制能力下降。然而，此类研究主要将与酒精相关的诱人线索与非酒精、无吸引力的线索（如静止物品）进行对比。因此，尚不清楚是线索的酒精性质本身影响了抑制控制的损伤，还是更普遍的诱人过程在起作用。
本研究检验了一个此前未经验证的观点，即与酒精相关的刺激的去抑制作用可能会推广到其他诱人的液体刺激，但不会推广到无吸引力的液体刺激。
59名参与者（年龄中位数=21.63，标准差=5.85）完成了一项改良版的停止信号任务，该任务让他们接触三种液体的视觉刺激：与酒精相关的诱人液体（如葡萄酒）、非酒精的诱人液体（如水）和无吸引力的液体（如洗洁精）。
与预测一致，与无吸引力的刺激相比，诱人的（与酒精相关的、非酒精的）刺激的停止信号反应时间显著更长。在进行试验时，参与者对诱人刺激的反应也比对无吸引力刺激的反应更快且出错更少。与酒精相关的诱人产品和非酒精的诱人产品之间的停止信号反应时间没有明显差异。
这些发现表明，对与酒精相关线索的抑制控制能力下降可能会推广到其他诱人的液体，这可能是由于评价性条件作用。对现有研究方法的启示包括使用诱人的对照条件以及在与酒精相关的抑制控制测试中使线索多样化。
