Positive Arousal Increases Individuals' Preferences for Risk

Impulsivity Predicts Relapse—but Not Dropout—in Outpatients with SUD: a Longitudinal Study

The objective of this study was to compare performance on a comprehensive impulsivity battery of SUD outpatients who dropout versus those who do not dropout and of abstainers versus relapsers at 3 and 12 months of treatment follow-up. Impulsivity was measured at the start of treatment and adherence and relapse at 3 and 12 months. The participants are 115 outpatients with SUD. Motor impulsivity (Affective Go/No Go), attentional impulsivity (Stroop), delay discounting (Monetary Choice Questionnaire; MCQ), and decision making (Iowa Gambling Task; IGT) were assessed. Impulsivity was not associated with dropout. There were no relationships between treatment outcomes and the MCQ and IGT. Stroop and affective Go-No Go were associated with relapse at 3 and 12 months. Affective motor disinhibition and cognitive disinhibition predict relapse in outpatients. No cognitive aspect of impulsiveness is related to dropout.

In the Heat of the Short-Term Moment: Evidence that Heightened Sexual Arousal Increases Short-Term Mating Motivation Among Men

Individual differences in men’s short-term mating interest are well studied, both at state and trait levels. Yet, the role of sexual arousal as a source of intra-individual variation has been neglected. This research represents the first attempt to integrate sexual arousal into the human mate plasticity literature. We argue that sexual arousal directly impacts the short-term mating motivation among men regardless of their personality, relationship status, and sociosexuality. Across four experiments, we found that heightened sexual arousal consistently increased men’s short-term mating motivation relative to participants in neutral and arousing control groups. Experiments 1 and 2 revealed that sexual arousal increased participants’ general short-term mating motivation and their preference for a short-term relationship over a long-term one. Experiment 3 replicated the findings of the first two experiments whilst also demonstrating that this effect was not moderated by personality (i.e., Dark Triad, Big Five) or relationship status. Heightened sexual arousal also led to decreased “state” long-term mating motivation. Finally, Experiment 4 showed that sexual arousal increased the participants’ preference for a short-term relationship over a long-term one, an effect that was not moderated by sociosexuality. Together, the results suggest that sexual arousal has a powerful effect on men’s short-term mating motivation, and that this effect is independent of intrasexual differences in personality, relationship status, and sociosexuality.

Aroused and Impulsive Effects of Colour Stimuli on Lateral and Logical Abilities

The purpose of this study was to explore the influence of environmental colour on people’s lateral and logical abilities. This was done by evaluating study participants’ response time and error rate when completing six types of psychometric tests that were performed in various hue backgrounds on a computer. To maximise the colour stimulation provided by the monitor, the experiment was carried out in a dark laboratory. Analysis of participants’ response time and error rate showed that different colours could significantly influence arousal and impulsiveness, which suggests that colour has indirect impacts on cognitive abilities. Further analysis revealed that different colours had various effects depending on the type of psychometric test given. These findings suggest that future research on environmental design should consider how to effectively use colour to impact people’s performance and behaviour.

The impact of emotions on shopping behavior during epidemic. What a business can do to protect customers

The study investigated how the perception of in-shop COVID-19 contraction influences emotions in decision-making and how they further effect actions undertaken by consumers to control the situation within a store. Structural equation modeling was used to study the relationship between the risk of in-store infection, emotions and in-shop behavior, based on data retrieved from 914 questionnaires. Results showed, that the perceived risk of becoming infected in a store causes an increase in arousal and, at the same time, a decrease in perceived pleasure during shopping. The rise in arousal led to an increase in consumers taking actions to decrease their risk of contagion, while an increase in noticeable pleasure lowered interest of following recommendations for pandemic behavior. The findings imply that through changes regarding in-store atmosphere, stationary shops can provide consumers with a sense of urgency and awareness of infection risk so that they may do their shopping more efficiently.

Daily associations between affect and alcohol use among adults: The importance of affective arousal

OBJECTIVE

Little is known about whether level of affective arousal (i.e., high vs. low) is associated with alcohol use and whether this relationship differs by valence (i.e., positive vs. negative affect) among adults.

METHODS

Participants were n = 93 self-reported current drinkers (ages 25-65) who reported positive (PA) and negative affect (NA) seven times a day and alcohol use once a day for seven consecutive days. For each individual, mean levels of high arousal PA (e.g., excited), low arousal PA (e.g., satisfied), high arousal NA (e.g., frustrated), and low arousal NA (e.g., sad) were computed for each day.

RESULTS

Alcohol use was reported on 30% of person-days, with an average of 2.3 drinks consumed on drinking days. Heavy episodic drinking (4+/5+ drinks for women/men) occurred on 4% of days. After covarying for age, gender, and weekday, days with higher-than-usual levels of high arousal PA were associated with a 52% increase in the odds of consuming any alcohol and a 105% increase in the odds of engaging in heavy episodic drinking. Individuals reporting more low arousal PA on average had a 77% increase in the odds of heavy episodic drinking. No significant associations between high or low arousal NA and alcohol use were found.

CONCLUSIONS

Greater PA, but not NA, was associated with heavy alcohol use at both the within- and between-person levels, perhaps attributable to social and enhancement drinking motives. Results differed by arousal, highlighting the importance of considering a wide range of affective states when examining alcohol use behavior.

Specific aspects of cognitive impulsivity are longitudinally associated with lower treatment retention and greater relapse in therapeutic community treatment

INTRODUCTION

Impulsivity has been consistently associated with poorer addiction treatment outcomes. However, impulsivity is a multifaceted construct and current evidence have failed to unravel which specific aspects explain this relationship. There is also limited research examining long-term outcomes. We aimed to examine the longitudinal association between baseline performance on a comprehensive battery of impulsivity measures and retention and relapse at the end of treatment.

METHODS

The sample comprised 68 participants with miscellaneous diagnoses of substance use disorders and polysubstance use patterns, enrolled in public residential therapeutic communities in Andalusia (Spain). At baseline, we applied measures of selective attention (Stroop), response inhibition (Affective Go/No Go), delay discounting (Monetary Choice Questionnaire; MCQ), and decision-making (Iowa Gambling Task; IGT). At the end of treatment (mean = 148.36 days, range = 22-289 days), we collected outcome measures of retention (coded by the clinical team as completion or dropout based on statewide practice guidelines) and relapse (defined as at least two separate alcohol/drug use episodes based on urine analyses).

RESULTS

Cox regression models showed that poorer decision-making in the IGT was associated with premature treatment dropout, whereas elevated commission errors in the Affective Go/No Go were associated with higher relapse rates. Selective attention and delay discounting were unrelated to outcomes.

CONCLUSION

Long-term based decision-making skills are important to commit to the complex and intensive treatment programs of therapeutic communities. The ability to withhold behavioural responses under positive affect is relevant to prevent relapse. Both skills should be assessed and potentially trained during therapeutic community treatment.