Incidental orienting tasks and the recall performance of acutely intoxicated subjects

Alcohol facilitates detection of concealed identity information

The Concealed Information Test (CIT) is a well-validated means to detect whether someone possesses certain (e.g., crime-relevant) information. The current study investigated whether alcohol intoxication during CIT administration influences reaction time (RT) CIT-effects. Two opposing predictions can be made. First, by decreasing attention to critical information, alcohol intoxication could diminish CIT-effects. Second, by hampering the inhibition of truthful responses, alcohol intoxication could increase CIT-effects. A correlational field design was employed. Participants (n = 42) were recruited and tested at a bar, where alcohol consumption was voluntary and incidental. Participants completed a CIT, in which they were instructed to hide knowledge of their true identity. BAC was estimated via breath alcohol ratio. Results revealed that higher BAC levels were correlated with higher CIT-effects. Our results demonstrate that robust CIT effects can be obtained even when testing conditions differ from typical laboratory settings and strengthen the idea that response inhibition contributes to the RT-CIT effect.

Use of regression residuals to quantify individual differences in acute sensitivity and tolerance to alcohol

Due to the problem of correlation of errors inherent in the difference or ratio scores typically used to quantify individual differences in acute sensitivity and tolerance to alcohol, it is recommended that residual scores from regression analyses be used instead for such quantification. Conceptualizations of acute sensitivity and tolerance and problems with the reliability of change scores are also discussed.