Mapping acute alcohol effects on bodily sensations: A cross-dimensional interoceptive approach

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Psychopharmacology
• Addiction Research

Background:

• Interoceptive processes are implicated in maladaptive alcohol use.
• Bodily sensations during intoxication may reveal addiction mechanisms.
• Novel tools are needed to study alcohol's impact on somatic awareness.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how alcohol intoxication affects somatic awareness.
• To examine bodily sensations and cardiac interoception during alcohol consumption.

Main Methods:

• Double-blind, placebo-controlled study with social drinkers (n=37).
• Administered 0.4 g/kg alcohol and measured bodily sensations using the emBODY tool.
• Assessed subjective effects, heart rate, and cardiac interoception via a heart rate discrimination task.

Main Results:

• Alcohol altered bodily sensations, with prominent effects in the chest, limbs, and head.
• Bodily sensations correlated with heart rate changes and breath alcohol content.
• Sensation extent linked to subjective effects and cardiac interoceptive awareness.

Conclusions:

• Bodily mapping is valuable in psychopharmacology for understanding alcohol's somatic basis in addiction.
• Reduced bodily sensations during intoxication may indicate higher risk for alcohol use disorder.
• Future research will test this hypothesis using low-sensitivity models.