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University Students' Hangover May Affect Cognitive Research.
Mauro Murgia1, Serena Mingolo1, Valter Prpic2
1Department of Life Sciences, University of Trieste, Trieste, Italy.
Frontiers in Psychology
|November 2, 2020
Summary
Hangover significantly slows cognitive performance in university students, impacting research validity. Researchers must account for this hangover effect when recruiting student participants for cognitive studies.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Neuroscience
- Experimental Psychology
Background:
- University students are frequently used in cognitive research.
- Alcohol consumption's effects on cognition are studied, but the impact of hangover on research validity is overlooked.
- Hangover can confound cognitive research findings by affecting participant performance.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the impact of hangover on cognitive performance in university students.
- To assess whether hangover state influences response times in cognitive tasks.
- To determine if hangover effects are misattributed to experimental manipulations.
Main Methods:
- A test-retest design was employed with two groups of university students.
- Participants were assessed in both hungover and non-hangover states at different time points (T0 and T1).
- Cognitive performance was measured using parity judgment and arithmetic verification tasks.
Main Results:
- Hungover students exhibited significantly slower response times compared to non-hungover students.
- The same students performed slower when hungover than when in a non-hangover state.
- The prevalence of hungover students varied by day of the week, suggesting potential recruitment bias.
Conclusions:
- Hangover demonstrably impairs cognitive performance, affecting response times.
- Researchers may misinterpret findings due to the unacknowledged influence of hangover.
- Future cognitive research should consider and control for the potential confounding effects of hangover in student populations.
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