Acute Effects of Alcohol Intoxication on Decision Making and Impulsivity in At-Risk Gamblers With or Without Problematic Dinking

VERA, BELÉN DEL VALLE; PILATTI, ANGELINA; GARIMALDI, JAVIER ALEJANDRO; PAUTASSI, RICARDO MARCOS

Psychology & Neuroscience

American Psychological Association.

Lugar: Washington; Año: 2018

Introduction: The study analyzed decision making under ambiguity and risk, impulsivity,and acute effects of alcohol intoxication on these processes in subjects exhibiting either one,both, or none of these conditions: problem drinking and at-risk gambling involvement.Method: Subjects (N 110, ages 18?57; 57.3% men) were evaluated on the IowaGambling Task (IGT; Bechara, Damasio, Damasio, & Anderson, 1994), the Game of DiceTask (GDT; Brand et al., 2005) and the Go-Stop Impulsivity Paradigm (GoStop; Dough-erty, Mathias, & Marsh, 2003) before and after the ingestion of an alcohol (inducing 0.45g/kg) or a placebo drink. Results: At-risk gamblers (ARG) showed better performance onthe IGT than not-at-risk gamblers and nongamblers (ARG). ARG and subjects intox-icated with alcohol picked more cards than their respective controls from the high frequencyof punishment decks. ARG without problematic drinking exhibited greater impulsivity inthe GoStop (i.e., exhibited a significantly lower percentage of response inhibition at the50-ms latency) after the ingestion of alcohol. GDT scores were unaffected by gambling,problem drinking, or acute alcohol dosing. Conclusions: The study confirmed the facili-tatory effect of acute alcohol on impulsivity. A new and important finding was the alteredIGT performance in ARGs. This is particularly striking when considering that these are notpathological gamblers. Apparently, even this low level of gambling severity is sufficient toalter decision making. The lower level of sensitivity to frequency of punishment apparentlyimproved performance in this population, but it can present risk for the development ofmore severe gambling behaviors, particularly when considering that the acute alcoholtreatment increased their impulsivity and had an independent effect upon sensitivity topunishment.