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Alcohol influences the use of decisional support

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Abstract

Aim

Excess consumption of alcohol leads to impaired cognition and decision making; hence, alcohol-containing products and advertising contain warning messages about the adverse effects of excess drinking. However, there is a need to understand how alcohol influences the processing of advisory messages.

Method

The current study used a computerised gambling simulation and investigated whether intoxication would affect the use of a decision aid. Using a double-blind repeated measures design, 16 adult males (aged 18–29) completed the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test and the South Oaks Gambling Screen and played a computer blackjack program on two separate occasions, under differing doses of alcohol. On certain conditions, the computerised decision aid gave advice to participants as to whether the odds were in their favour.

Results

Participants were found to take longer to respond to the decision aid under higher risk conditions when they were losing.

Conclusion

Alcohol intoxication may lead to problems evaluating information pertaining to risk, and this has implications for the use of other decision aids designed to assist intoxicated individuals. The problems processing warning information were consistent with alcohol induced ‘myopia’ where intoxicated individuals had problems processing less salient cues.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Monash University Strategic Grant Scheme.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Psychology and Psychiatry, Monash University, Clayton, VIC, 3800, Australia

    James G. Phillips & Rowan P. Ogeil

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  1. James G. Phillips
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  2. Rowan P. Ogeil
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Correspondence to James G. Phillips.

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Phillips, J.G., Ogeil, R.P. Alcohol influences the use of decisional support. Psychopharmacology 208, 603–611 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-009-1762-6

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