Direct comparison of the cognitive effects of acute alcohol with the morning after a normal night's drinking

Abstract

Objective The aim of this study was to compare performance measures after acute alcohol consumption (intoxication) with the performance the day after a normal night's drinking (hangover). Methods Eighty‐four social drinkers took part in two studies that followed a counterbalanced repeated measure design. Fifteen men and 33 women were tested the morning (09:00, 11:00 or 13:00 h) following normal/usual alcohol consumption and the morning after no alcohol consumption; the order of testing was counterbalanced. In a second study, 36 participants (18 men and 18 women) were tested after receiving alcohol to attain a blood alcohol concentration of 0.08%, and after no alcohol administration, the order of testing was counterbalanced. In both studies, participants completed a task battery of memory, reaction time and attention tasks. Results Alcohol had no effect on the free recall task and the spatial attention task. Alcohol consumption, either acute or the next day, significantly affected reaction time, divided attention, selective attention and Stroop interference. The impairments during intoxication and hangover were of comparable magnitude. Performance on tasks of delayed recognition and irregular interstimulus reaction time was worse during hangover when compared with intoxication. Conclusion It is evident that awareness needs to be raised that performance the morning after alcohol consumption is at the same level if not worse than when participants are at the legal limit for driving (0.08% blood alcohol concentration). Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Memory and attention during an alcohol hangover

“…between group design of the current study. In line with the current study, McKinney et al (2012) also observed significantly slower response times on the Stroop task and Eriksen's flanker test. They found no significant differences between hangover and control condition on a spatial attention test (which was not included in the current study).…”

“…Studies with divided attention test of longer duration (e.g., 15 min or more) did show significantly more tracking errors in the hangover state (Roehrs, Yoon, & Roth, ). A previous study from our institute using the same divided attention task (McKinney, Coyle, & Verster, ) did find significantly slower response times in the hangover condition. A possible explanation for this discrepancy in results may be the fact that the study by McKinney et al () applied a within subjects design as opposed to the between group design of the current study.…”

“…A previous study from our institute using the same divided attention task (McKinney, Coyle, & Verster, ) did find significantly slower response times in the hangover condition. A possible explanation for this discrepancy in results may be the fact that the study by McKinney et al () applied a within subjects design as opposed to the between group design of the current study. In line with the current study, McKinney et al () also observed significantly slower response times on the Stroop task and Eriksen's flanker test.…”

“…Of note, significant impairments in delayed free word recall have been reported to be present during the alcohol hangover Verster et al, ). Delayed recognition was significantly impaired in two studies McKinney & Coyle, ; McKinney et al, ) but not in another study (Verster et al, ). Unfortunately, delayed recall and delayed recognition were not assessed in the current study.…”

Blood Alcohol Concentration-Related Lower Performance in Immediate Visual Memory and Working Memory in Adolescent Binge Drinkers

“…Despite the large amount of information provided by the literature, the majority of studies include broader age ranges and they encompass several developmental stages, such as youth (Grattan-Miscio and Vogel-Sprott, 2005; Schweizer et al, 2006; Day et al, 2013), adulthood (Dougherty et al, 2000; Weissenborn and Duka, 2003; Moulton et al, 2005; Söderlund et al, 2005; Paulus et al, 2006; Brumback et al, 2007; Rose and Duka, 2007; Saults et al, 2007; Cash et al, 2015), as well as older adults (Boha et al, 2009; Leitz et al, 2009; Bisby et al, 2010a,b; Montgomery et al, 2011; Poltavski et al, 2011; Wetherill and Fromme, 2011; McKinney et al, 2012; Hoffman and Nixon, 2015; Weafer et al, 2016). Besides the mnesic impact of acute BD, there are also studies showing effects of BD history in Spanish binge drinkers (Parada et al, 2011b; Sanhueza et al, 2011; Mota et al, 2013; Carbia et al, 2017) and international population (Squeglia et al, 2011; Campanella et al, 2013).…”