Abstract
Moderate alcohol consumption may be involved in cognitive feedback mechanisms (Hofmann & Friese, 2008), participants execute verbal fluency test (VFT) better (Cerhan et al., 1998) and there is positive association between sweet taste and excessive alcohol intake (Lange, Kampov-Polevoy, & Garbutt, 2010). We investigate the immediate pharmacological consequences of moderate to light alcohol consumption in verbal fluency and categorical sorting within the different taste domains (i.e. sweet, salty, sour and bitter). Our hypothesis is that subjects under the influence of light to moderate alcohol will produce more items in the sweet domain. 53 healthy adults had moderate alcohol consumption and were compared in two semantic tasks to 53 adults, who did not drink alcohol. Mann-Whitney U tests showed that the total number of clusters, switches, and repetitions were equal between the two groups in all taste domains (p-values: .211, .401, and .684 respectively). The number of responses in the alcohol group generated more disinhibiting intrusive words during the VFTs as compared to the control group (p-value: <.001). VFTs and the order of taste preference in the card-sorting task showed positive correlation and agreement. Light to moderate alcohol did not affect verbal fluency. However, participants under the influence of alcohol generated significantly more errors in the VFTs that were emotionally laden. This corroborates with research that certain emotions are innervated with taste domains. This leaves open question about the effects of alcohol on decision making in eating and executive functions as they relate to lexical representations.
Highlights
More than half of the Americans said that they were current alcohol drinkers (Aronson, 2016) and 86% of men and 80% of women in England reported that within the last twelve months they were exposed to alcohol intake (Fuller, 2012)
Taste domains that were highly ranked in the verbal fluency test (VFT) were highly ranked in the card-sorting task, while poorly ranked taste domains in the VFT were poorly ranked in the card-sorting task
Note. 1 = taste domain most preferred in the card sorting task and the taste domain that generated the greatest word responses in VFT, 2 = second most preferred taste domain in the card sorting task and the taste domain that generated the second greatest word responses in VFT, 3 = third most preferred taste domain in the card sorting task and the taste domain that generated the third greatest word responses in VFT, 4 = least most preferred taste domain in the card sorting task and the taste domain that generated the least word responses in VFT. The results from both experimental conditions presented a picture that taste domain is an important determinant in the number of words generated in the VFTs
Summary
More than half of the Americans said that they were current alcohol drinkers (Aronson, 2016) and 86% of men and 80% of women in England reported that within the last twelve months they were exposed to alcohol intake (Fuller, 2012). A cohort study of 3,363 subjects showed that moderate alcohol consumption enhanced cognition in non-demented individuals, but did not increase total brain volume (TBV) (Davis et al, 2014). The cognitive function of 12,480 women aged 70 to 81 years was evaluated. In 15,800 participants 45-64 years old, word fluency was positively associated with alcohol drinking, after controlling for education level, age, sex and occupation (Cerhan et al, 1998). Cerhan et al (1998) showed a dose-response effect, where the higher alcohol intake was associated with higher word fluency scores. The researchers indicated that alcohol consumption led to significantly less correct responses when compared to the alcohol-free group (169 vs 190 words, p < 0.007). There were no differences in the cerebral blood flow between the two groups
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