1 MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK.
2 School of Psychological Science, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK.
J Psychopharmacol. 2019 Mar;33(3):326-334. doi: 10.1177/0269881118822169. Epub 2019 Feb 5.
Research suggests that acute alcohol consumption alters recognition of emotional expressions. Extending this work, we investigated the effects of alcohol on recognition of six primary expressions of emotion.
We conducted two studies using a 2 × 6 experimental design with a between-subjects factor of drink (alcohol, placebo) and a within-subjects factor of emotion (anger, disgust, sadness, surprise, happiness, fear). Study one ( n = 110) was followed by a direct replication study ( n = 192). Participants completed a six alternative forced choice emotion recognition task following consumption of 0.4 g/kg alcohol or placebo. Dependent variables were recognition accuracy (i.e. hits) and false alarms.
There was no clear evidence of differences in recognition accuracy between groups ( ps > .58). In study one, there were more false alarms for anger in the alcohol compared to placebo group ( n = 52 and 56, respectively; t(94.6) = 2.26, p = .024, d = .44) and fewer false alarms for happiness ( t(106) = -2.42, p = .017, d = -.47). However, no clear evidence for these effects was found in study two (alcohol group n = 96, placebo group n = 93, ps > .22). When the data were combined we observed weak evidence of an effect of alcohol on false alarms of anger ( t(295) = 2.25, p = .025, d = .26).
These studies find weak support for biased anger perception following acute alcohol consumption in social consumers, which could have implications for alcohol-related aggression. Future research should investigate the robustness of this effect, particularly in individuals high in trait aggression.
研究表明，急性酒精摄入会改变对情绪表达的识别。在此基础上，我们研究了酒精对六种基本情绪表达的识别的影响。
我们进行了两项研究，采用 2×6 实验设计，其中一个组间因素是饮酒（酒精、安慰剂），另一个组内因素是情绪（愤怒、厌恶、悲伤、惊讶、快乐、恐惧）。第一项研究（n=110）后进行了直接复制研究（n=192）。参与者在摄入 0.4g/kg 酒精或安慰剂后完成了一个六选一的情绪识别任务。因变量是识别准确性（即命中）和错误警报。
两组之间的识别准确性没有明显差异（p>.58）。在第一项研究中，与安慰剂组相比，酒精组对愤怒的错误警报更多（n=52 和 56，分别；t(94.6)=2.26，p=.024，d=0.44），对幸福的错误警报更少（t(106)=-2.42，p=.017，d=0.47）。然而，第二项研究中没有明显的证据支持这些效应（酒精组 n=96，安慰剂组 n=93，p>.22）。当数据合并时，我们观察到酒精对愤怒错误警报有微弱的影响（t(295)=2.25，p=.025，d=0.26）。
这些研究在社交饮酒者中发现了急性酒精摄入后对愤怒的感知存在偏见的微弱证据，这可能对与酒精相关的攻击行为产生影响。未来的研究应调查这种效应的稳健性，特别是在具有高特质攻击性的个体中。
