Attention Allocation: Effects of Alcohol and Information Salience on Attentional Processes in Male Social Drinkers

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the interactive effects of alcohol and salience of social cues (personality traits) on allocation of attention in the intoxicated male social drinker. It was expected that inebriated subjects would preferentially attend to high threat relative to low threat information contingent on the information's personal relevance. Seventy-six participants received either alcohol or a placebo, or were in a control condition, and were given the opportunity to attend to personally salient or nonsalient positive, negative, and neutral information. Intoxicated participants viewed negative traits longer than did nonintoxicated subjects and attended to these traits longer in the salient than in the nonsalient condition. Findings are compared to the attention allocation model, and their implications for alcohol-mediated cognitive processes are discussed.