Do daily fluctuations in inhibitory control predict alcohol consumption? An ecological momentary assessment study

Deficient inhibitory control is predictive of increased alcohol consumption in the laboratory; however, little is known about this relationship in naturalistic, real-world settings.

In the present study, we implemented ecological momentary assessment methods to investigate the relationship between inhibitory control and alcohol consumption in the real world.

Heavy drinkers who were motivated to reduce their alcohol consumption (N = 100) were loaned a smartphone which administered a stop signal task twice per day at random intervals between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. for 2 weeks. Each day, participants also recorded their planned and actual alcohol consumption and their subjective craving and mood. We hypothesised that day-to-day fluctuations in inhibitory control (stop signal reaction time) would predict alcohol consumption, over and above planned consumption and craving.

Multilevel modelling demonstrated that daily alcohol consumption was predicted by planned consumption (β = .816; 95% CI .762-.870) and craving (β = .022; 95% CI .013-.031), but inhibitory control did not predict any additional variance in alcohol consumption. However, secondary analyses demonstrated that the magnitude of deterioration in inhibitory control across the day was a significant predictor of increased alcohol consumption on that day (β = .007; 95% CI .004-.011), after controlling for planned consumption and craving.

These findings demonstrate that short-term fluctuations in inhibitory control predict alcohol consumption, which suggests that transient fluctuations in inhibition may be a risk factor for heavy drinking episodes.