Leganes-Fonteneau Mateo, Desmedt Olivier, Allen Micah G, Wiers Reinout W, Maurage Pierre
Louvain Experimental Psychopathology Research Group, Psychological Science Research Institute, UCLouvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium.
Developmental Psychopathology Department, Psychology School, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
J Psychopharmacol. 2025 Jul;39(7):682-693. doi: 10.1177/02698811251338223. Epub 2025 May 20.
Interoceptive processes may underlie maladaptive patterns of alcohol use. Bodily sensations experienced during alcohol intoxication could therefore reveal distinct mechanistic components relevant for addiction theory and research. Here, we apply novel tools to examine how intoxication impacts somatic awareness using bodily maps and a cardiac interoception task.
In a double-blind, within-subjects, placebo-controlled study, social drinkers ( = 37, 17 female) were administered 0.4 g/kg of alcohol. We measured changes in self-reported bodily sensations during the ascending and descending limbs of the blood-alcohol curves using the emBODY tool. Additionally, we recorded biphasic measures of subjective alcohol effects (sedation and stimulation), changes in heart rate, and assessed psychophysical measures of cardiac beliefs using the heart rate discrimination task.
Acute alcohol administration altered bodily sensations, reflected by strong sensations in the chest, limbs, and head, with lesser effects in the placebo condition. Linear-mixed models examined correlates of bodily sensations across conditions. Extent of bodily sensations correlated with heart rate changes and breath alcohol content. In the ascending limb, bodily sensations negatively correlated with subjective stimulation and positively with sedation. Finally, extent of bodily sensations correlated with the metacognitive sensitivity of cardiac beliefs, suggesting a cross-dimensional integration between sensations and interoceptive awareness.
These findings highlight the value of bodily mapping in psychopharmacology, as interoceptive components of alcohol intoxication may provide a somatic basis for addiction. We interpret our results through low-sensitivity models, suggesting individuals with reduced bodily sensations during intoxication may face elevated risk for alcohol use disorder, a hypothesis that will be examined in future research.
内感受过程可能是酒精使用适应不良模式的基础。因此，酒精中毒期间体验到的身体感觉可能揭示与成瘾理论和研究相关的不同机制成分。在此，我们应用新工具，通过身体图谱和心脏内感受任务来研究中毒如何影响躯体意识。
在一项双盲、受试者内、安慰剂对照研究中，给社交饮酒者（n = 37，17名女性）服用0.4 g/kg酒精。我们使用emBODY工具测量了血酒精曲线上升和下降阶段自我报告的身体感觉变化。此外，我们记录了主观酒精效应（镇静和刺激）的双相测量值、心率变化，并使用心率辨别任务评估了心脏信念的心理物理学测量值。
急性酒精给药改变了身体感觉，表现为胸部、四肢和头部有强烈感觉，而在安慰剂条件下影响较小。线性混合模型检查了不同条件下身体感觉的相关性。身体感觉的程度与心率变化和呼气酒精含量相关。在上升阶段，身体感觉与主观刺激呈负相关，与镇静呈正相关。最后，身体感觉的程度与心脏信念的元认知敏感性相关，表明感觉与内感受意识之间存在跨维度整合。
这些发现突出了身体图谱在精神药理学中的价值，因为酒精中毒的内感受成分可能为成瘾提供躯体基础。我们通过低敏感性模型解释我们的结果，表明中毒期间身体感觉减少的个体可能面临酒精使用障碍的风险增加，这一假设将在未来研究中进行检验。
