Rationale

Inhibition is a core executive function and refers to the ability to deliberately suppress attention, behavior, thoughts, and/or emotions and instead act in a specific manner. While acute alcohol exposure has been shown to impair response inhibition in the stop-signal and Go/NoGo tasks, reported alcohol effects on attentional inhibition in the Stroop task are inconsistent. Notably, studies have operationalized attentional inhibition variably and there has been intra- and inter-individual variability in alcohol exposure.

Objective

This study aimed to examine the acute effects of alcohol on attentional inhibition, considering previous limitations.

Methods

In a single-blind, cross-over design, 40 non-dependent participants with a medium-to-high risk drinking behavior performed a Counting Stroop task (CST) under a baseline and an arterial blood alcohol concentration (aBAC) clamp at 80 mg%. Attentional inhibition was assessed as the alteration of reaction times (RT), error rates (ER), and inverse efficiency scores (IES) between incongruent and congruent trials (interference score). Stroop performance was also assessed regardless of trial-type.

Results

Compared to saline, acute alcohol exposure via an aBAC clamp did not affect CST interference scores but increased RTs and IES in both incongruent and congruent trials.

Conclusions

Attentional inhibition (Stroop interference score) was not impaired by clamped moderate alcohol exposure. Acute alcohol impaired Stroop performance evidenced by a general increase in response times. Our findings suggest that response and attentional inhibition do not share the same neurocognitive mechanisms and are affected differently by alcohol. Results could also be explained by automated behaviors known to be relatively unaffected by acute alcohol.

中文翻译：

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根据斯特鲁普干扰分数测量，急性酒精不会损害注意力抑制，但会损害斯特鲁普表现

 基本原理

抑制是一种核心执行功能，是指故意抑制注意力、行为、思想和/或情绪，而是以特定方式行事的能力。虽然急性酒精暴露已被证明会损害停止信号和 Go/NoGo 任务中的反应抑制，但报道的酒精对 Stroop 任务中注意力抑制的影响并不一致。值得注意的是，研究对注意力抑制的操作存在差异，并且酒精暴露存在个体内和个体间的差异。

 客观的

考虑到先前的局限性，本研究旨在检查酒精对注意力抑制的急性影响。

 方法

在单盲、交叉设计中，40 名具有中到高风险饮酒行为的非依赖参与者在基线和动脉血酒精浓度 (aBAC) 钳位为 80 毫克的情况下执行计数 Stroop 任务 (CST) %。注意力抑制被评估为不一致和一致试验之间反应时间（RT）、错误率（ER）和逆效率得分（IES）的变化（干扰得分）。无论试验类型如何，斯特鲁普的表现也进行了评估。

 结果

与生理盐水相比，在不一致和一致试验中，通过 aBAC 钳夹进行的急性酒精暴露不会影响 CST 干扰评分，但会增加 RT 和 IES。

 结论

适度的酒精暴露不会损害注意力抑制（Stroop 干扰评分）。急性酒精损害了斯特鲁普的表现，表现为反应时间普遍增加。我们的研究结果表明，反应和注意力抑制并不具有相同的神经认知机制，并且受到酒精的影响不同。结果也可以用已知相对不受急性酒精影响的自动行为来解释。