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Ethanol, errors, and the speed-accuracy trade-off.

B Tiplady1, G B Drummond, E Cameron

  • 1Department of Anaesthetics, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK. brian.tiplady@astrazeneca.com

Pharmacology, Biochemistry, and Behavior
|August 18, 2001
PubMed
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Ethanol consistently increases errors in cognitive tasks, regardless of instructions. However, its effect on response speed varies, sometimes increasing speed and other times slowing it down.

Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Neuroscience
  • Pharmacology

Background:

  • Ethanol's impact on cognitive performance, particularly the speed-accuracy trade-off (SATO), is a key area of research.
  • Previous studies suggest ethanol may affect error rates more than temazepam, potentially via SATO.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate how different instructional sets influence the speed-accuracy trade-off (SATO) under ethanol consumption.
  • To determine the differential effects of ethanol on error rates and response speed across various cognitive tasks.

Main Methods:

  • Forty-nine healthy volunteers were randomly assigned to accuracy-focused, neutral, or speed-focused instruction groups.
  • Participants received either ethanol (0.8 g/kg) or a placebo in a double-blind, randomized crossover design across two sessions.

Related Experiment Videos

  • Cognitive performance was assessed using maze tasks (paper and computer) and the Four-Choice Reaction Test at 30 and 75 minutes post-drug.

    • Main Results:

    • Instructions significantly modulated performance, aligning with expected effects on SATO.
    • Ethanol consistently increased error rates across all tested tasks.
    • Ethanol showed a variable effect on response speed, with a tendency to increase speed in some tasks (pen computer maze, Four-Choice Reaction Test) and decrease it in others.

    Conclusions:

    • Ethanol reliably impairs accuracy in cognitive tasks, irrespective of the participant's instructed strategy.
    • The influence of ethanol on cognitive task speed is task-dependent and less consistent than its effect on errors.
    • Findings highlight the complex interaction between ethanol, task demands, and individual response strategies on cognitive function.