Effects of Alcohol and Mood on Attention

Summary

Acute use of alcohol is related to increased risk for suicide. However, our understanding of this problem is hindered by the lack of experimental tests of conditions underlying the alcohol use-suicide relationship. The attention allocation model (AAM) proposes that alcohol intoxication limits individuals' focus to salient cues in their environment. Thus, acute use of alcohol (AUA) during negative mood states may cause people to focus their attention towards suicide-related cues in their environment, thus increasing their risk for suicide while intoxicated. The proposed pilot study tests the AAM by exploring the combined effects of AUA, mood, and alcohol expectancies on attentional bias towards suicide-related cues. The proposed study will explore the combined impact of AUA and negative mood on attentional bias towards suicide in a sample of community adults. The investigators will further explore whether individual differences in alcohol expectancies influence these associations. The investigators will conduct a 2 by 2 (alcohol/placebo by negative mood/positive mood), between-subjects experiment involving alcohol administration, a well-established mood induction paradigm, and a performance-based dependent measure of attention towards suicide-related cues. The investigators expect that individuals in the negative mood-alcohol condition to show the greatest suicide-related attentional bias. The investigators expect that alcohol expectancies related to suicide will strengthen this association, and that positive mood alcohol expectancies will weaken this association. This pilot study will provide an initial test of the feasibility of this project and the hypotheses. This study will form the basis for a larger scale study able to test the effects.

Conditions

• Suicidal Ideas

Interventions

OTHER

Alcohol administration

Participants in the alcoholic beverage group will be provided a dose of 95% alcohol (0.99g/kg for males and 0.90 g/kg for females body weight) distributed in two equally spaced beverages (mixed with orange juice 1:5 ratio). This dose will produce a breath alcohol content ranging between .08-.10.

OTHER

Placebo administration

Individuals in the placebo condition will receive orange juice with 4 ml of alcohol layered on top of the juice. Ethanol will be sprayed on the rims of the glasses.

BEHAVIORAL

Positive mood induction

Participants will be randomized to either positive mood induction procedure. Both conditions involve listening to music that reliably induces positive mood, while simultaneously reading self-referent statements that also induce either positive mood. This procedure lasts about 10 minutes and produces a transient mood state that passes by the end of the study.

BEHAVIORAL

Negative mood induction

Participants will be randomized to either negative mood induction procedure. Both conditions involve listening to music that reliably induces sad mood, while simultaneously reading self-referent statements that also induce either sad mood. This procedure lasts about 10 minutes and produces a transient mood state that passes by the end of the study.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Alabama at Birmingham

  lead OTHER

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

BASIC_SCIENCE

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

21 Years

Max Age

65 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2022-03-10

Primary Completion

2023-12-08

Completion

2023-12-08

Countries

• United States

Study Locations