Acetaminophen, an analgesic and antipyretic available over-the-counter and used in over 600 medicines, is one of the most consumed drugs in the USA. Recent research has suggested that acetaminophen’s effects extend to the blunting of negative as well as positive affect. Because affect is a determinant of risk perception and risk taking, we tested the hypothesis that acute acetaminophen consumption (1000 mg) could influence these important judgments and decisions. In three double-blind, placebo-controlled studies, healthy young adults completed a laboratory measure of risk taking (Balloon Analog Risk Task) and in Studies 1 and 2 completed self-report measures of risk perception. Across all studies (total n = 545), acetaminophen increased risk-taking behavior. On the more affectively stimulating risk perception measure used in Study 2, acetaminophen reduced self-reported perceived risk and this reduction statistically mediated increased risk-taking behavior. These results indicate that acetaminophen can increase risk taking, which may be due to reductions in risk perceptions, particularly those that are highly affect laden.

中文翻译：

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对乙酰氨基酚对冒险的影响。

对乙酰氨基酚是一种非处方药，可在非处方药中使用，用于600多种药物中，是美国最消耗的药物之一。最近的研究表明，对乙酰氨基酚的作用扩展到使负面和正面影响变得平淡无奇。因为情感是风险感知和冒险的决定因素，所以我们检验了以下假设：对乙酰氨基酚的急性摄入量（1000毫克）可能影响这些重要的判断和决定。在三项双盲，安慰剂对照研究中，健康的年轻人完成了一项风险承担的实验室测量（Balloon Analog Risk Task），在研究1和2中完成了对风险感知的自我报告。在所有研究中（总计n = 545），对乙酰氨基酚增加了冒险行为。在研究2中使用的更具情感刺激性的风险感知方法，对乙酰氨基酚降低了自我报告的感知风险，而这种降低在统计学上介导了冒险行为的增加。这些结果表明，对乙酰氨基酚可以增加冒险精神，这可能是由于降低了风险感知，尤其是那些影响力很大的风险感知。