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Effects of binge drinking and hangover on response selection sub-processes-a study using EEG and drift diffusion
Ann-Kathrin Stock1, Sven Hoffmann2, Christian Beste1
1Cognitive Neurophysiology, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine of the TU Dresden, University of Dresden, Germany.
Addiction Biology
|May 31, 2016
Summary
Binge drinking impairs cognitive control, but hangover surprisingly enhances information processing efficiency. This study reveals specific, not general, effects of alcohol intoxication and hangover on decision-making processes.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Psychology
- Addiction Research
Background:
- Binge drinking's impact on cognitive control is known, but hangover effects remain understudied.
- Acute alcohol intoxication and hangover may have distinct neurobiological mechanisms and cognitive consequences.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the differential effects of alcohol intoxication and hangover on response selection subprocesses.
- To combine behavioral and neurophysiological data to understand decision-making under these conditions.
Main Methods:
- Utilized drift-diffusion modeling (DDM) on behavioral data.
- Employed electroencephalography (EEG) to capture neurophysiological responses.
- Compared states of acute intoxication, hangover, and sobriety.
Main Results:
- Alcohol intoxication decreased drift rate, while hangover increased it, suggesting enhanced information accumulation during hangover.
- Non-decisional processes of information encoding were reduced by intoxication but not hangover.
- Event-related potentials (N2, P1, N1) and activity in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and occipital networks were modulated.
Conclusions:
- Cognitive effects of alcohol are specific, not generalized impairments.
- Hangover may lead to more efficient information accumulation compared to intoxication.
- Neurophysiological markers reflect distinct impacts of intoxication and hangover on cognitive control.
