Acute Effects of Intoxication and Arousal on Appro

Authors: Jeffrey S Simons Stephen A Maisto Tyler B Wray Noah N Emery

Publish Date: 2015/03/26

Volume: 45, Issue: 1, Pages: 43-51

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Abstract

This study tested the effects of alcohol intoxication and physiological arousal on cognitive biases toward erotic stimuli and condoms Ninetyseven heterosexual men were randomized to 1 of 6 independent conditions in a 2 high arousal or control × 3 alcohol target BAC = 008 placebo or juice control design and then completed a variant of the Approach–Avoidance Task AAT The AAT assessed reaction times toward approaching and avoiding erotic stimuli and condoms with a joystick Consistent with hypotheses the alcohol condition exhibited an approach bias toward erotic stimuli whereas the control and placebo groups exhibited an approach bias toward condom stimuli Similarly the participants in the high arousal condition exhibited an approach bias toward erotic stimuli and the low arousal control condition exhibited an approach bias toward condoms The results suggest that acute changes in intoxication and physiological arousal independently foster biased responding toward sexual stimuli and these biases are associated with sexual risk intentionsThis research was supported in part by National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism Grants R01AA017433 JSS 2K05 AA16928 SAM and F31AA020151 TBW The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health The authors thank Rob Dvorak and Frank Schieber for their assistance programming the AAT

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