Abstract
The present study was designed to investigate autonomic cued reactivity to olfactory alcohol stimuli in alcoholics. Twenty outpatient alcoholics and 20 social drinkers were exposed to high- and low-potency alcohol and neutral odors. The alcoholics showed greater skin conductance responses and increased heart rate acceleration responses to the high-potency alcohol odor than social drinkers, while there was no difference between the groups' responses to the low-potency alcohol odor. Alcoholics also reported greater difficulties in resisting a potential offer for a drink after relative to before the experiment, while there was no change in the desire to drink. The results indicate that alcohol cues are perceived as emotionally aversive and elicit a defensive response to avoid further processing of these stimuli. The increased autonomic reactivity may thus reflect a shift of focus from the environmental alcohol cues to internal thoughts and feelings. A rigid internal focus may constrain the ability to resist alcohol consumption and thus be a critical determinant in promoting craving and relapse in alcoholics.
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