The effect of alcohol hangover on choice response time

Abstract

The effect of alcohol hangover on cognitive processing has received little attention.We explored the effect of alcohol hangover on choice response time (RT), a dominant dependent variable in cognitive research. Prior research of the effect of hangover on RT has produced mixed findings; all studies reviewed relied exclusively on estimates of central tendency (e.g., mean RT), which has limited information value. Here we present novel analytical methods by going beyond mean RT analysis. Specifically, we examined performance in hangover conditions (N = 31) across the whole RT distribution by fitting exGaussian models to participant data, providing a formal description of the RT distribution.This analysis showed detriments to performance under hangover conditions at the slower end of the RT distribution and increased RT variance under hangover conditions. We also fitted an explicit mathematical process model of choice RT-the diffusion model-which estimates parameters reflecting psychologically-meaningful processes underlying choice RT. This analysis showed that hangover reduced information processing efficiency during response selection, and increased response caution; changes in these parameters reflect hangover affecting core decisional-components of RT performance. The implications of the data as well as the methods used for hangover research are discussed. The Effect of Alcohol Hangover on Choice Response TimeAlcohol hangover refers to the set of adverse symptoms experienced following alcohol consumption once alcohol has been eliminated from the blood (Verster et al., 2010).A number of biological mechanisms underlying hangover have been put forward such as the metabolism of congeners (alcohols in drinks other than ethanol) such as methanol, imbalance in the immune system and reduced blood glucose concentration (Penning et al., 2010), as well as acetaldehyde level increase, dehydration, sleep deprivation and insufficient eating (Verster et al., 2003). Although researchers have some understanding of the physiological effects of hangover, much less is known about the cognitive effects of hangover (Prat, Adan, Pérez-Pàmies & Sànchez-Turet, 2008;Prat, Adan & Sánchez-Turet, 2009).Stephens, Grange, Jones, and Owen (2014) provided a review of studies which have investigated the effects of alcohol hangover on general cognition. They reviewed the growing evidence base that shows hangover negatively affects core cognitive functions such as divided attention (e.g., Roehrs et al., 1991), sustained attention (e.g., Anderson & Dawson, 1999;McKinney et al., 2012; Rohsenow et al., 2010), attentional selection (e.g., McKinney et al., 2012), and some executive functions (e.g., Streufert et al., 1995).The focus of the present study was on the effect of alcohol hangover on response time (RT). Simple RT requires no choice between response alternatives, and is merely a reaction to an external stimulus (e.g., "Press the space bar as soon as you see a flash on the screen").Choice RT, in contrast, requires participants to make a ...

The Effects of Alcohol Hangover on Mood and Performance Assessed at Home

“…The speed-accuracy trade-off has not always been observed and error rates can also increase with alcohol induced impairment [51]. However, based on the overall profile of significant results observed in this study, response slowing is a more consistent feature of alcohol hangover induced impairment than increased errors and this has been observed in other studies [26,52,53]. The greater impact on response slowing is therefore an emerging important factor in profiling alcohol hangover induced impairment in contrast to the effects of acute alcohol intoxication.…”

Alcohol Hangover and Multitasking: Effects on Mood, Cognitive Performance, Stress Reactivity, and Perceived Effort

“…Hangover-induced cognitive impairment has been described across several domains including spatial and visual abilities [13], attention [14][15][16][17], memory, information processing [18], and reaction time [18][19][20]. Conversely, some studies have failed to find convincing evidence for hangover-induced cognitive impairment [10,11,16].…”

University Students’ Hangover May Affect Cognitive Research

“…Previous studies demonstrate that participants in hangover condition have impaired cognitive performance in different tasks ( van Schrojenstein Lantman et al, 2017 ). In particular, next-day impairments were found for short-term/working memory ( McKinney and Coyle, 2004 , 2007 ; Howland et al, 2010 ; Scholey et al, 2019 ), long-term memory ( Verster et al, 2003 ; McKinney and Coyle, 2004 , 2007 ), sustained attention ( Howland et al, 2010 ; Rohsenow et al, 2010 ; McKinney et al, 2012 ), divided attention ( Roehrs et al, 1991 ), selective attention ( McKinney et al, 2012 ; Devenney et al, 2018 , 2019 ), and performance in psychomotor tasks ( McKinney and Coyle, 2004 ; Kruisselbrink et al, 2006 ; Grange et al, 2016 ). Moreover, some studies investigated the next-day impairment in real-life situations, showing that participants reported feeling impaired in their working activity ( Rohsenow et al, 2006 ), and that complex daily tasks such as car driving were affected ( Laurell and Törnros, 1983 ; Verster et al, 2014 ).…”