Alcohol Effects on Performance Monitoring and Adjustment: Affect Modulation and Impairment of Evaluative Cognitive Control

Bruce D Bartholow; Erika A Henry; Sarah A Lust; J Scott Saults; Phillip K Wood

doi:10.1037/a0023664

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Alcohol Effects on Performance Monitoring and Adjustment: Affect Modulation and Impairment of Evaluative Cognitive Control

Journal article

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Alcohol Effects on Performance Monitoring and Adjustment: Affect Modulation and Impairment of Evaluative Cognitive Control

Bruce D Bartholow, Erika A Henry, Sarah A Lust, J Scott Saults and Phillip K Wood

Journal of abnormal psychology (1965), Vol.121(1), pp.173-186

02/01/2012

DOI: 10.1037/a0023664

PMCID: PMC4254813

PMID: 21604824

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https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/4254813View

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Abstract

Alcohol is known to impair self-regulatory control of behavior, though mechanisms for this effect remain unclear. Here, we tested the hypothesis that alcohol's reduction of negative affect (NA) is a key mechanism for such impairment. This hypothesis was tested by measuring the amplitude of the error-related negativity (ERN), a component of the event-related brain potential (ERP) posited to reflect the extent to which behavioral control failures are experienced as distressing, while participants completed a laboratory task requiring self-regulatory control. Alcohol reduced both the ERN and error positivity (Pe) components of the ERP following errors and impaired typical posterror behavioral adjustment. Structural equation modeling indicated that effects of alcohol on both the ERN and posterror adjustment were significantly mediated by reductions in NA. Effects of alcohol on Pe amplitude were unrelated to posterror adjustment, however. These findings indicate a role for affect modulation in understanding alcohol's effects on self-regulatory impairment and more generally support theories linking the ERN with a distress-related response to control failures.

Addictive behaviors

Adult and adolescent clinical studies

Alcoholism

Biological and medical sciences

Medical sciences

Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry

Psychopathology. Psychiatry

Details

Title: Subtitle: Alcohol Effects on Performance Monitoring and Adjustment: Affect Modulation and Impairment of Evaluative Cognitive Control
Creators: Bruce D Bartholow - University of Missouri
Erika A Henry - University of Missouri
Sarah A Lust - University of Missouri
J Scott Saults - University of Missouri
Phillip K Wood - University of Missouri
Resource Type: Journal article
Publication Details: Journal of abnormal psychology (1965), Vol.121(1), pp.173-186
DOI: 10.1037/a0023664
PMID: 21604824
PMCID: PMC4254813
NLM abbreviation: J Abnorm Psychol
ISSN: 0021-843X
eISSN: 1939-1846
Publisher: American Psychological Association
Grant note: name: University of Missouri Research Board; DOI: 10.13039/100000027, name: National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, award: R21-AA017282; T32-AA013526
Language: English
Date published: 02/01/2012
Academic Unit: Psychological and Brain Sciences; Iowa Neuroscience Institute
Record Identifier: 9984446398502771

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