Monk RL, et al. – The goal of the present research was to explore the hitherto untested assertion that the disinhibiting effects of alcohol–related stimuli might generalise to other appetitive liquid stimuli, but not to non–appetitive liquid stimuli. The findings suggested that decreases in inhibitory control in response to alcohol–related cues could generalise to other appetitive liquids, possibly due to evaluative conditioning. Suggestions for existing research methodologies involve the use of appetitive control conditions and the diversification of cues within tests of alcohol–related inhibitory control.

Methods

• This study was conducted on 59 members (Mage = 21.63, SD = 5.85) who finished a modified version of the Stop Signal Task, which exposed them to visual stimuli of 3 types of liquids: Alcoholic appetitive (e.g., wine), non-alcoholic appetitive (e.g., water) and non-appetitive (e.g., washing-up liquid).

Results

• The analysis in this study showed that stop-signal reaction time was significantly longer for appetitive (alcoholic, non-alcoholic) compared to non-appetitive stimuli consistent with predictions.
• Findings revealed that members were also faster and less error-prone when responding to appetitive relative to non-appetitive stimuli on go-trials.
• No apparent differences in stop signal reaction times were found between alcoholic and non-alcoholic appetitive products.