Kumar Lakshmi, Creswell Kasey G, Brown Kirk W, Lyons Greta, Feeney Brooke C
Department of Psychology, Carnegie Mellon University, 5000 Forbes Avenue, Baker Hall 342c, Pittsburgh, PA, 15213, USA.
Sci Rep. 2025 Apr 21;15(1):13807. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-98153-2.
Alcohol intoxication can lead to both positive and negative social outcomes, and recent research suggests that alcohol-induced changes in emotion recognition and empathy may underlie these consequences. However, methodological limitations of prior studies make drawing firm conclusions difficult. This study addresses some of these limitations by investigating the acute effects of alcohol on emotion recognition and empathy in a large sample of young adults, using an intoxicating alcohol dose and more ecologically valid tasks. Participants (N = 156, mean age = 22.51 ± 2.16, 31.41% female, 72.44% White) were randomly assigned to groups of 3 unacquainted persons; each group was randomly assigned to drink an alcoholic or placebo beverage together. Participants then completed measures of emotion recognition and empathy. Alcohol (vs. placebo) participants showed impaired recognition of anger (B = -0.18, p < 0.01) but no other specific emotions. They additionally reported higher affective empathy (i.e., how well participants related to another participant) in response to direct interactions with other participants (B = 0.31, p < 0.05). Alcohol and placebo participants did not differ on perceived empathy assessed by a traditional third-person empathy task using static images. These effects held when controlling for covariates. Findings suggest alcohol worsens anger recognition and increases perceptions of relating to another. Results also highlight the importance of considering the nature and reliability of social cognition assessments when examining alcohol intoxication effects.
酒精中毒会导致积极和消极的社会后果，最近的研究表明，酒精引起的情绪识别和同理心变化可能是这些后果的潜在原因。然而，先前研究的方法局限性使得难以得出确凿的结论。本研究通过在大量年轻成年人样本中调查酒精对情绪识别和同理心的急性影响，采用致醉剂量的酒精和更具生态效度的任务，解决了其中一些局限性。参与者（N = 156，平均年龄 = 22.51 ± 2.16，31.41%为女性，72.44%为白人）被随机分成由3名互不相识的人组成的小组；每个小组被随机分配一起饮用酒精饮料或安慰剂饮料。参与者随后完成情绪识别和同理心测量。与安慰剂组相比，饮酒组参与者对愤怒的识别能力受损（B = -0.18，p < 0.01），但对其他特定情绪没有影响。他们还报告说，在与其他参与者直接互动后，情感同理心（即参与者与另一名参与者的关联程度）更高（B = 0.31，p < 0.05）。在使用静态图像的传统第三人称同理心任务中评估的感知同理心方面，饮酒组和安慰剂组参与者没有差异。在控制协变量时，这些效应依然存在。研究结果表明，酒精会削弱愤怒识别能力，并增加与他人关联的感知。结果还强调了在研究酒精中毒影响时考虑社会认知评估的性质和可靠性的重要性。
