Abstract
Frequent alcohol binges shift behavior from goal-directed to habitual processing modes. This shift in reward-associated learning strategies plays a key role in the development and maintenance of alcohol use disorders and seems to persist during (early stages of) sobriety in at-risk drinkers. Yet still, it has remained unclear whether this phenomenon might be associated with alcohol hangover and thus also be found in social drinkers. In an experimental crossover design, n = 25 healthy young male participants performed a two-step decision-making task once sober and once hungover (i.e., when reaching sobriety after consuming 2.6 g of alcohol per estimated liter of total body water). This task allows the separation of effortful model-based and computationally less demanding model-free learning strategies. The experimental induction of alcohol hangover was successful, but we found no significant hangover effects on model-based and model-free learning scores, the balance between model-free and model-based valuation (ω), or perseveration tendencies (π). Bayesian analyses provided positive evidence for the null hypothesis for all measures except π (anecdotal evidence for the null hypothesis). Taken together, alcohol hangover, which results from a single binge drinking episode, does not impair the application of effortful and computationally costly model-based learning strategies and/or increase model-free learning strategies. This supports the notion that the behavioral deficits observed in at-risk drinkers are most likely not caused by the immediate aftereffects of individual binge drinking events.
Highlights
Alcohol is a widely used, and often abused, substance that may cause a number of different adverse effects during acute intoxication, and thereafter [1]
Alcohol hangover, which results from a single binge drinking episode, does not impair the application of effortful and computationally costly model-based learning strategies and/or increase model-free learning strategies
Investigating the arbitration between effortful top-down controlled “model-based” behavior and less demanding “model-free” behavior is of scientific interest, and of clinical relevance: A better understanding of the mechanisms underlying intra- and inter-individual differences can elucidate the behavioral and psychological changes that have been associated with problematic drinking patterns like binge drinking [21,22] and shown to drive and maintain alcohol use disorders (AUDs) [16,23,24,25]
Summary
Alcohol is a widely used, and often abused, substance that may cause a number of different adverse effects during acute intoxication, and thereafter [1]. Symptoms that are commonly reported during hangover include nausea and vomiting, headaches and stomach pains, clumsiness and weakness, tiredness and sleepiness, depressive symptoms and apathy, dizziness and confusion, as well as concentration problems [4] Based on such recurring subjective reports and in line with studies postulating reduced workplace productivity and safety during alcohol hangover [5], it is often readily assumed that various physiological and cognitive functions are impaired during hangover. Despite such heterogeneous findings and despite the fact that most of the tested functional domains require investing voluntary effort, which is considered to be (potentially) straining, it has never been systematically investigated whether alcohol hangover might reduce the ability and/or willingness to invest cognitive effort, rather than the general ability to perform a given task This could help to explain the observed heterogeneity of effects, like why physical impairments have been reported in working contexts [7,8], but not necessarily in recreational activities [9]. Improved knowledge about alcohol effects on engagement of effortful cognitive processes could help to better understand phenomena like hangover-related increases in workplace absenteeism [13], or under which circumstances hungover individuals might still be able to compensate deficits by means of increased effort [14,15]
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