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Effects of acute alcohol consumption on emotion recognition in social alcohol drinkers

BACKGROUND: 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. METHODS: We conducted two studies using a 2 × 6 experimental design with a betwe...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Khouja, Jasmine N, Attwood, Angela S, Penton-Voak, Ian S, Munafò, Marcus R
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: SAGE Publications 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6404104/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30717614
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0269881118822169
Descripción
Sumario:BACKGROUND: 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. METHODS: 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. RESULTS: 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). CONCLUSIONS: 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.