Hoaken P N, Assaad J M, Pihl R O
Department of Psychology, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
J Stud Alcohol. 1998 Sep;59(5):599-607. doi: 10.15288/jsa.1998.59.599.
A highly replicable research finding is that alcohol intoxication tends to induce aggressive responding. Recent research investigating the role of cognitive function in this relationship has shown that individuals who perform poorly on certain cognitive tasks have difficulty responding to contingencies to inhibit aggression, while high performers do not. High performers, however, do show increased aggression while intoxicated. This study investigated whether subjects with above average cognitive functioning would, when intoxicated, inhibit aggression in order to attain monetary reward.
Men (N = 43), aged 18-30, selected on the basis of high performance on a neuropsychological test putatively assessing function of dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, the spatial conditional associative learning task, participated in a modified version of the Taylor Aggression Task. Half the subjects were acutely alcohol intoxicated, the other half were sober. Furthermore, half the subjects in each of these groups received contingent monetary reward for choosing lower shocks. Aggression was defined as shock intensity delivered to a sham opponent.
Contrary to the hypothesis, intoxicated subjects, even though significantly impaired cognitively relative to their nonintoxicated peers (F = 4.29, 1/41 df, p < .05), appeared to have no difficulty inhibiting their aggression in order to gain monetary reward. That is, there was no difference between intoxicated and nonintoxicated subjects on the dependent variable, shock intensity, when contingent money was available (F = .01, 1/20 df, p = .935).
This finding provides further evidence that alcohol-induced aggression is not a uniform phenomenon, and it suggests a neuropsychological mechanism that may mediate the relationship. It may be that individuals with above average cognitive abilities retain sufficient residual functioning to inhibit aggressive responding, even when acutely alcohol intoxicated.
一项具有高度可重复性的研究发现是，酒精中毒往往会引发攻击性行为。最近一项关于认知功能在此关系中作用的研究表明，在某些认知任务中表现不佳的个体难以应对抑制攻击行为的意外情况，而表现出色的个体则没有这种困难。然而，表现出色的个体在醉酒时确实会表现出攻击性增强。本研究调查了认知功能高于平均水平的受试者在醉酒时是否会为了获得金钱奖励而抑制攻击行为。
根据一项假定评估背外侧前额叶皮质功能的神经心理学测试（空间条件联想学习任务）表现优异而挑选出的18至30岁男性（N = 43）参与了泰勒攻击任务的修改版。一半受试者处于急性酒精中毒状态，另一半清醒。此外，每组中的一半受试者因选择较低强度的电击而获得意外金钱奖励。攻击行为定义为施加给虚拟对手的电击强度。
与假设相反，醉酒受试者尽管相对于未醉酒的同龄人认知功能明显受损（F = 4.29，1/41 df，p <.05），但在为了获得金钱奖励而抑制攻击行为方面似乎没有困难。也就是说，当有意外金钱奖励时，醉酒和未醉酒受试者在因变量电击强度上没有差异（F = .01，1/20 df，p = .935）。
这一发现进一步证明酒精诱发的攻击行为并非统一现象，并提示了一种可能介导这种关系的神经心理学机制。可能是认知能力高于平均水平的个体即使在急性酒精中毒时仍保留足够的残余功能来抑制攻击行为。
