No abstract

Social drinker volunteers were randomly assigned to the four cells of a balanced placebo design, with 10 males and 10 females per cell. They consumed a beverage which contained either tonic water only, or tonic water plus sufficient vodka to induce peak blood alcohol levels of approximately 0.05%. Subjects then completed a computer version of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) in two runs. Compared to tonic only, beverage alcohol selectively increased per cent perseverative errors as well as other measures of perseveration and the number of trials, p less than 0.05. Results are interpreted in terms of an hypothesized differential action on functions of the frontal cortex in addition to possible non-specific effects of alcohol. Issues pertaining to expectancy interpretations are also discussed.

No abstract

A psychophysiological theory of ORs is presented within the framework of methodological behaviorism. Contrary to O'Gorman there is extensive evidence supporting the distinction between voluntary and involuntary ORs. There is also good evidence indicating that the operation of sets predetermine the occurrence of ORs. A theoretical physiological basis is available to account for the phenomena of set: dominant foci. The latter conception also provides a physiological basis for stimulus significance and permits an integration of diverse phenomena involving ORs, including classical and verbal conditioning.

Four articles follow describing experiments that are concerned primarily with the conditioning of the galvanic skin response (GSR) to words and, in some cases, the GSR's generalization to other words as well. Each of these studies typically addresses itself to a number of different issues. Also typically, their results suggest rather new and different issues."Instructions and the Orienting Reflex in 'Semantic Conditioning' of the Galvanic Skin Response in an Innocuous Situation" by Pendery and Maltzman (pp. 120-140) concerns the effects of instructions on classical conditioning of the GSR. It demonstrates that verbal conditioning of the GSR can be obtained using an innocuous unconditioned stimulus (UCS). This study, therefore, has extensive implications for theories of human classical conditioning. It suggests that the traditional interpretation of verbal conditioning of the GSR in terms of anxiety is overgeneralized or simply wrong. We assume the latter is the case. This study also suggests that classical conditioning in the individual subject is essentially an all-ornone process."Galvanic Skin Response -Orienting Reflex and Semantic Conditioning and Generalization with Different Unconditioned Requests for reprints should be sent to

Concurrent measures of event-related potentials (ERPs) and skin conductance responses were obtained in an auditory oddball task consisting of rare target, rare non-signal unique novel and frequent standard tones. Twelve right-handed male social drinkers participated in all four cells of the balanced placebo design in which effects of beverage and instructions as to the beverage content (expectancy) were independently manipulated. The beverage contained either juice only, or vodka mixed with juice in the ratio that successfully disguised the taste of alcohol and raised average peak blood-alcohol level to 0.045% (45 mg/dl). ERPs were sensitive to adverse effects of mild inebriation, whereas behavioural measures were not affected. Alcohol ingestion reliably increased N2 amplitude and reduced the late positive complex (LPC). A large, fronto-central P3a (280 ms latency) was recorded to novel sounds in the placebo condition, but only on the trials that also evoked electrodermal-orienting responses. Both novel and target stimuli evoked a posterior P3b (340 ms), which was independent of orienting. Alcohol selectively attenuated the P3a to novel sounds on trials with autonomic arousal. This evidence confirms the previously suggested distinction between the subcomponents of the LPC: P3a may be a central index of orienting to novel, task-irrelevant but potentially significant stimuli and is an important component of the arousal system. P3b does not have a clear relationship with arousal and may embody voluntary cognitive processing of rare task-related stimuli. Overall, these results indicate that alcohol affects multiple brain systems concerned with arousal, attentional processes and cognitive-autonomic integration.

No abstract

OBJECTIVE: Recent studies show an alarming rate of alcohol and drug use among university students. The objective of this study was to assess the level of association between lifestyle and socioeconomic status and the prevalence of alcohol, tobacco, medicine, and "illicit drug" use in the last 12 months among university students. METHODS: The sample included 926 undergraduate students in the Biology Department of a university in São Paulo who completed an anonymous, self-applied questionnaire in 2000 and 2001. Anova and Chi-square tests were applied to verify the correlation between substance use and variables. RESULTS: Among students who reported having a religion, alcohol consumption was 83.1%, tobacco use 20.7%, and "illicit drugs" 24.6% during this period. Among students who reported not having a religion, reported alcohol use was higher in the last 12 months: alcohol (89.3%), tobacco (27.7%) and "illicit drugs" (37.7%). Monthly family income was related to alcohol and "illicit drug" use (p<0.001 for both). The students who used tobacco and "illicit drugs" reported more free time during the week than students who didn't smoke during the period of time analyzed (p=0.033 and p=0.008, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Psychoactive drug use was common among students, indicating a need for policies to be implemented with the goal of reducing consumption. Students with higher family income and without religion should be considered to be at higher risk for alcohol and drug use among this group.