Alcohol effects on human risk taking

• Published in: Psychopharmacologia Vol. 172; no. 1; pp. 68 - 77
• Main Authors: LANE, Scott D, CHEREK, Don R, PIETRAS, Cynthia J, TCHEREMISSINE, Oleg V
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin Springer 01.02.2004; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Adult; Biological and medical sciences; Breath Tests; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; Ethanol - adverse effects; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Humans; Male; Medical sciences; Neuropharmacology; Pharmacology. Drug treatments; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Risk-Taking; Human; Punishment; Alcoholic beverage; Reinforcement; Alcohol; Risk taking; Laboratory experiment; Risk-taking
• ISSN: 0033-3158; 1432-2072
• DOI: 10.1007/s00213-003-1628-2

Despite a well-established relationship between alcohol and risky behavior in the natural environment, laboratory investigations have not reliably shown acute alcohol effects on human risk-taking. The present study was designed to demonstrate a dose-response relationship between acute alcohol administration and human risk taking. Further, this investigation sought to delineate behavioral mechanisms that may be involved in alcohol-induced changes in the probability of risky behavior. Using a laboratory measure of risk taking designed to address acute drug effects, 16 adults were administered placebo, 0.2, 0.4, and 0.8 g/kg alcohol in a within-subject repeated measures experimental design. The risk-taking task presented subjects with a choice between two response options operationally defined as risky and non-risky. Data analyses examined: breath alcohol level (BAL), subjective effects, response rates, distribution of choices between the risky and non-risky option, and trial-by-trial probabilities of making losing and winning risky responses. The alcohol administration produced the expected changes in BAL, subjective effects, and response rate. Alcohol dose-dependently increased selection of the risky response option, and at the 0.8 g/kg dose, increased the probability of making consecutive losing risky responses following a gain on the risky response option. Acute alcohol administration can produce measurable changes in human risk-taking under laboratory conditions. Shifts in trial-by-trial response probabilities suggest insensitivity to past rewards and more recent losses when intoxicated, an outcome consistent with previous studies. This shift in sensitivity to consequences is a possible mechanism in alcohol-induced changes in risk taking.