Abstract
RationaleHow the smell of alcohol impacts alcohol-related thoughts and behaviours is unclear, though it is well-documented that alcohol-related stimuli and environments may trigger these.ObjectivesThe current study, therefore, aimed to investigate the priming effects of both visual and olfactory alcohol cues on inhibitory control.MethodForty individuals (M age = 23.65, SD = 6.52) completed a go/no-go association task (GNAT) which measured reaction times, response accuracy and false alarm rates whilst being exposed to alcohol-related (or neutral) olfactory and visual cues.ResultsAlcohol-related visual cues elicited lower false alarm rates, slower reaction times and higher accuracy rates relative to neutral pictorial cues. False alarm rates were significantly higher for those exposed to alcohol as opposed to neutral olfactory cues.ConclusionsBy highlighting that exposure to alcohol-related olfactory cues may impede response inhibition, the results indicate that exposure to such stimuli may contribute to the activation of cognitive responses which may drive consumption.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s00213-016-4221-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
Rationale How the smell of alcohol impacts alcohol-related thoughts and behaviours is unclear, though it is welldocumented that alcohol-related stimuli and environments may trigger these
Following screening for normality, a 2 × 2 mixed Factorial ANOVA was used to examine the effect of olfactory and visual stimuli on a go/no-go task
A main effect of olfactory cue was found (F(1, 38) = 5.42, p = 0.03, ηp2 = 0.13) such that the FAR was higher for those receiving the alcohol olfactory cue (M = 0.56, SD = 0.04) than for the control olfactory cue (M = 0.42, SD = 0.04)
Summary
Rationale How the smell of alcohol impacts alcohol-related thoughts and behaviours is unclear, though it is welldocumented that alcohol-related stimuli and environments may trigger these. Objectives The current study, aimed to investigate the priming effects of both visual and olfactory alcohol cues on inhibitory control. Method Forty individuals (M age = 23.65, SD = 6.52) completed a go/no-go association task (GNAT) which measured reaction times, response accuracy and false alarm rates whilst being exposed to alcohol-related (or neutral) olfactory and visual cues. Results Alcohol-related visual cues elicited lower false alarm rates, slower reaction times and higher accuracy rates relative to neutral pictorial cues. False alarm rates were significantly higher for those exposed to alcohol as opposed to neutral olfactory cues
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