From: sryder@jsrsys.com
Sent: Monday, January 28, 2002 5:39 PM
To: jjcurtin@facstaff.wisc.edu
Subject: Confirmation of RSA abstract submission
Dear John J. Curtin,
Thank you very much for submitting you abstract.
This is an automatic reply to inform you that your abstract has been sent to us.
Kind Regards,
SteveRyder: RSoA.org WebServant
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This is the information you submitted to us:
Principal Author info:
John J. Curtin
1202 West Johnson St
Madison
WI 53706
United States
phone: 608-262-0387
fax: 608-262-4029
email: jjcurtin@facstaff.wisc.edu
Position:
RSA member: Yes
ISBRA member: No
If NO, sponsor:
Presenting Author info:
phone:
fax:
email:
Position:
RSA Member:
ISBRA Member:
Abstract category:
first choice: 8c
second choice: 8b
The abstract:
Alcohol and behavioral dysregulation: Event related potential evidence of failures in cognitive control
J.J Curtin; D.A. Green; B.A. Fairchild
University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706
Many current theories highlight the role of cognitive deficits in understanding the connection between drinking and important psychosocial phenomena (e.g., sexual and aggressive behavior). In particular, it appears that intoxicated individuals have difficulty executing effortful, attention limited, cognitive control required to inhibit dominant responses. The current project investigated alcohol effects on task performance when an incompatible, dominant response is concurrently activated. Event related potential (ERP) indices of cognitive processing were measured to connect behavior to underlying cognitive processes/systems. In particular, examination of Error Related Negativity (ERN), an electrophysiological index of a neural system central to current theories of cognitive control, was a focus.
Participants received either alcohol (0.08g/100ml) or no alcohol. They performed a modified version of the Eriksen Flanker task. Each trial consisted of a string of 5 letters (H’s and S’s). Participants made forced choice responses to indicate the center target letter (H or S) while ignoring flanker letters surrounding the target. Flankers were compatible (match target; e.g: HHHHH) or incompatible (mismatch target; e.g: SSHSS), with compatible/incompatible trials equi-probable. A dominant response was established by manipulating target letter probability with one response more probable (p=.80) than the other (p=.20).
Behavioral results revealed that beverage condition interacted with target frequency such that intoxicated participants’ impairment on infrequent target trials increased over time. This suggests that the deficit resulted from conflict with the frequent target response, which became increasingly potent through repeated execution across trials. Alcohol produced a sizeable reduction in ERN, indicating that impairment in performance of the non-dominant response resulted from alcohol-induced deficits in the cognitive system responsible for initiating the controlled, attentional processing required in this context.