Effects of alcohol primes on judgments related to drinking and driving

Title from PDF of title page (University of Missouri--Columbia, viewed on June 13, 2011).The entire thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file; a non-technical public abstract appears in the public.pdf file.Thesis advisor: Dr. Denis M. McCarthy.Includes bibliographical references.M.A. University of Missouri--Columbia 2011.Although past research has tested the effects of alcohol related priming on behavior and judgments, previous studies have not investigated the effects of alcohol primes on judgments specific to drinking and driving. Based on the spreading activation model, we hypothesized that participants primed with alcohol words will make drinking and driving judgments consistent with their pre-existing attitudes about engaging in the behavior. Participants (N = 302) were randomly assigned to a priming condition (alcohol, safety, danger or neutral words) and they completed a lexical decision task which served as the priming mechanism. Following the primes, participants were asked to make hypothetical drinking and driving judgments. We found a significant interaction (condition X attitudes) on judgments regarding perceived danger of drinking and driving ([beta] = .43, p [less than] .01). Probing this interaction indicated that the standardized simple slope was .15 (p = .32) for participants in the alcohol condition and .70 (p [less than] .001) for participants in the neutral condition. Contrary to our hypothesis, these results suggest that pre-existing attitudes were predictive of drinking and driving judgments following the neutral primes but not following alcohol primes. Results from this study may better fit a dual process model of alcohol cognitions, which suggests that behaviors are influenced by both implicit and explicit cognitions. These effects are stronger for participants who report past drinking and driving behavior suggesting that the alcohol primes may activate implicit cognitions about drinking and driving, which are specifically salient for participants who engage in the behavior

Acute alcohol effects on impulsivity: associations with drinking and driving behavior

ABSTRACT Aims Although drink drivers exhibit higher levels of trait impulsivity, no studies have tested the hypothesis that drink drivers experience increased impulsivity while intoxicated. We tested this hypothesis for two impulsivity constructs: delay discounting and behavioral inhibition. Design A within-subjects study comparing performance of drink drivers and non-drink drivers on behavioral measures of impulsivity in alcohol and no-beverage sessions. Setting A laboratory setting at the University of Missouri. Participants Twenty-nine young adults who were at least moderate drinkers were recruited from the local community and the University of Missouri. Measurements Impulsivity was assessed using the Two Choice Impulsivity Paradigm (TCIP) and the Stop-Signal Task. Participants also completed self-report measures of binge drinking and trait impulsivity. Findings In the no-beverage session, TCIP impulsive choices did not differ between drinking and driving groups (P = 0.93). In the alcohol session, drink drivers made more TCIP impulsive choices on both the ascending (P < 0.01) and descending limb (P < 0.01) of the blood alcohol concentration curve than their peers who did not drink and drive. Drinking and driving groups did not differ on the Stop-Signal Task. Supplementary analyses indicated that effects for the TCIP were not explained by individual differences in trait impulsivity. Conclusions Individuals who report having three or more drinks before driving show greater impulsivity when under the influence of alcohol than those who do not report heavy drinking before driving