Abstract
Rationale
Prospective memory involves remembering to do something in the future and has a prospective component (remembering that something must be done) and a retrospective component (remembering what must be done and when it must be done). Initial studies reported an impairment in prospective-memory performance due to acute alcohol consumption. Retrospective-memory studies demonstrated that alcohol effects vary depending on the emotionality of the information that needs to be learned.
Objectives
The aim of the present study was to investigate possible differential effects of a mild acute alcohol dose (0.4 g/kg) on the prospective and retrospective components of prospective memory depending on cue valence.
Method
Seventy-five participants were allocated to an alcohol or placebo group and performed a prospective-memory task in which prospective-memory cue valence was manipulated (negative, neutral, positive). The multinomial model of event-based prospective memory (Smith and Bayen 2004) was used to measure alcohol and valence effects on the two prospective-memory components separately.
Results
Overall, no main effect of alcohol or valence on prospective-memory performance occurred. However, model-based analyses demonstrated a significantly higher retrospective component for positive compared with negative cues in the placebo group. In the alcohol group, the prospective component was weaker for negative than for neutral cues and the retrospective component was stronger for positive than for neutral cues. Group comparisons showed that the alcohol group had a significantly lower prospective component for negative cues and a lower retrospective component for neutral cues.
Conclusion
This is the first study to demonstrate selective alcohol effects on prospective-memory components depending on prospective-memory cue valence.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
A list of the selected pictures can be obtained from the first author upon request.
References
Altgassen M, Phillips L, Henry J, Rendell P, Kliegel M (2010) Emotional target cues eliminate age differences in prospective memory. Q J Exp Psychol 63:1057–1064. doi:10.1080/17470211003770920
Attwood AS, Ataya AF, Benton CP, Penton-Voak IS, Munafò MR (2009a) Effects of alcohol consumption and alcohol expectancy on the categorisation of perceptual cues of emotional expression. Psychopharmacology 204:327–334. doi:10.1007/s00213-009-1463-1
Attwood AS, Ohlson C, Benton CP, Penton-Voak IS, Munafò MR (2009b) Effects of acute alcohol consumption on processing of perceptual cues of emotional expressions. J Psychopharmacol 23:23–30. doi:10.1177/0269881108089604
Bartholow BD, Henry EA, Lust SA, Saults JS, Wood PK (2012) Alcohol effects on performance monitoring and adjustment: affect modulation and impairment of evaluative cognitive control. J Abnorm Psychol 121:173–186. doi:10.1037/a0023664
Bechara A, Dolan S, Denburg N, Hindes A, Anderson SW, Nathan PE (2001) Decision-making deficits, linked to a dysfunctional ventromedial prefrontal cortex, revealed in alcohol and stimulant abusers. Neuropsychology 39:376–389. doi:10.1016/S0028-3932(00)00136-6
Bradley MM, Lang PJ (1994) Measuring emotion: the self-assessment manikin and the semantic differential. J Behav Ther Exp Psychiatry 25:49–59. doi:10.1016/0005-7916(94)90063-9
Bruce KR, Phil RO (1997) Forget “drinking to forget”: enhanced consolidation of emotionally charged memory by alcohol. Exp Clin Psychopharmacol 5:242–250. doi:10.1037/1064-1297.5.3.242
Buratto LG, Pottage CL, Brown C, Morrison CM, Schaefer A (2014) The effects of a distracting N-back task on recognition memory are reduced by negative emotional intensity. PLoS One 9, e110211. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0110211
Cona G, Kliegel M, Bisiacchi PS (2015) Differential effects of emotional cues on components of prospective memory: an ERP study. Front Hum Neurosci 9:10. doi:10.3389/fnhum.2015.00010
Cooper ML, Frone MR, Russell M, Mudar P (1995) Drinking to regulate positive and negative emotions: a motivational model of alcohol use. J Pers Soc Psychol 69:990–1005. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.69.5.990
Einstein GO, McDaniel MA (1990) Normal aging and prospective memory. J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn 16:717–726. doi:10.1037/0278-7393.16.4.717
Einstein GO, McDaniel MA (1996) Retrieval processes in prospective memory: theoretical approaches and some new findings. In: Brandimonte M, Einstein GO, McDaniels MA (eds) Prospective memory: theory and applications. Erlbaum, Mawah
Ellis J, Kvavilashvili L (2000) Prospective memory in 2000: past, present, and future directions. Appl Cogn Psychol 14:S1–S9. doi:10.1002/acp.767
Feldman L, Harvey B, Holowaty P, Shortt L (1999) Alcohol use beliefs and behaviors among high school students. J Adolesc Health 24:48–58
Gavazzeni J, Andersson T, Bäckman L, Wiens S, Fischer H (2012) Age, gender, and arousal in recognition of negative and neutral pictures 1 year later. Psychol Aging 27:1039–1052. doi:10.1037/a0027946
George S, Rogers R, Duka T (2005) The acute effect of alcohol on decision making in social drinkers. Psychopharmacology 182:160–169. doi:10.1007/s00213-005-0057-9
Grattan-Miscio KE, Vogel-Sprott M (2005) Effects of alcohol and performance incentives on immediate working memory. Psychopharmacology 181:188–196. doi:10.1007/s00213-005-2226-2
Heffernan TM, Bartholomew J (2006) Does excessive alcohol use in teenagers affect their everyday prospective memory? J Adolesc Health 39:138–140. doi:10.1016/j.jadohealth.2005.10.010
Heffernan TM, Moss M, Ling J (2002) Subjective rating of prospective memory deficits in chronic heavy alcohol users. Alcohol Alcohol 37:269–271. doi:10.1093/alcalc/37.3.269
Horn SS, Bayen UJ (2015) Modeling criterion shifts and target checking in prospective-memory monitoring. J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn 41:95–117. doi:10.1037/a0037676
Horn SS, Bayen UJ, Smith RE, Boywitt CD (2011) The multinomial model of prospective memory: validity of ongoing-task parameters. Exp Psychol 58:247–255. doi:10.1027/1618-3169/a000091
Kensinger EA, Corkin S (2004) Two routes to emotional memory: distinct neural processes for valence and arousal. PNAS 101:3310–3315. doi:10.1073/pnas.0306408101
Kensinger EA, Schacter DL (2006) Processing emotional pictures and words: Effects of valence and arousal. Cogn Affect Behav Neurosci 6:110–126. doi:10.3758/CABN.6.2.110
Knowles SKZ, Duka T (2004) Does alcohol affect memory for emotional and non-emotional experiences in different ways? Behav Pharmacol 15:111–121
Lang PJ (1980) Behavioral treatment and bio-behavioral assessment: computer applications. In: Sidowski JB, Johnson JH, Williams TA (eds) Technology in mental health care delivery systems. Ablex, Norwood, pp 119–137
Lang PJ, Bradley MM, Cuthbert BN (2008) International Affective Picture System (IAPS): affective ratings of pictures and instruction manual, Technical report A-8. University of Florida, Gainesville
Leitz JR, Morgan CJA, Bisby JA, Rendell PG, Curran V (2009) Global impairment of prospective memory following acute alcohol intake. Psychopharmacology 205:379–387. doi:10.1007/s00213-009-1546-z
May C, Owens M, Einstein GO (2012) The impact of emotion on prospective memory and monitoring: no pain, big gain. Psychon Bull Rev 19:1165–1171. doi:10.3758/s13423-012-0301-3
Maylor EA, Rabbitt PM (1993) Alcohol, reaction time and memory: a meta-analysis. Br J Psychol 84:301–317. doi:10.1111/j.2044-8295.1993.tb02485.x
McDaniel MA, Einstein GO (2007) Prospective memory: an overview and synthesis of an emerging field. Sage, Thousand Oaks
Miendlarzewska EA, van Elswijk G, Cannistraci CV, van Ee R (2013) Working memory load attenuates emotional enhancement in recognition memory. Front Psychol 4:112. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00112
Moshagen MM (2010) multiTree: a computer program for the analysis of multinomial processing tree models. Behav Res Methods 42:42–54. doi:10.3758/BRM.42.1.42
Paraskevaides T, Morgan CJA, Leitz JR, Bisby JA, Rendell P, Curran HV (2010) Drinking and future thinking: acute effects of alcohol on prospective memory and future simulation. Psychopharmacology 208:301–308. doi:10.1007/s00213-009- 1731–0
Ray S, Mun E-Y, Buckman JF, Udo T, Bates ME (2012) Memory for emotional picture cues during acute alcohol intoxication. J Stud Alcohol Drugs 73:718–725
Rendell PG, Craik FIM (2000) Virtual week and actual week: age-related differences in prospective memory. Appl Cogn Psychol 14:43–62. doi:10.1002/acp.770
Rendell PG, Jensen F, Henry JD (2007) Prospective memory in multiple sclerosis. J Int Neuropsychol Soc 13:410–416. doi:10.1017/S1355617707070579
Rendell PG, Phillips LH, Henry JD, Brumby-Rendell T, de la Piedad Garcia X, Altgassen M, Kliegel M (2011) Prospective memory, emotional valence and aging. Cogn Emot 25:916–925. doi:10.1080/02699931.2010.508610
Riefer DM, Batchelder WH (1988) Multinomial modeling and the measurement of cognitive processes. Psychol Rev 95:318–339. doi:10.1037/0033-295X.95.3.318
Roediger HL III, Butler AC (2011) The critical role of retrieval practice in long-term retention. Trends Cogn Sci 15:20–27. doi:10.1016/j.tics.2010.09.003
Sayette MA (1993) An appraisal-disruption model of alcohol’s effects on stress responses in social drinkers. Psychol Bull 114:459–476. doi:10.1037/0033- 2909.114.3.459
Schnitzspahn KM, Zeintl M, Jäger T, Kliegel M (2011) Metacognition in prospective memory: are performance predictions accurate? Can J Exp Psychol 65:19–26. doi:10.1037/a0022842
Schnitzspahn KM, Horn SS, Bayen UJ, Kliegel M (2012) Age effects in emotional prospective memory: cue valence differentially affects the prospective and retrospective component. Psychol Aging 27:498–509. doi:10.1037/a0025021
Sher KJ, Bartholow BD, Wood MD, Peuser K, Erickson D (2007) Stress-response-dampening effects of alcohol: attention as a mediator and moderator. J Abnorm Psychol 116:362–377. doi:10.1037/0021-843X.116.2.362
Smith RE (2003) The cost of remembering to remember in event-based prospective memory: Investigating the capacity demands of delayed intention performance. J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn 29:347–361. doi:10.1037/0278-7393.29.3.347
Smith RE, Bayen UJ (2004) A multinomial model of event-based prospective memory. J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn 30:756–777. doi:10.1037/0278-7393.30.4.756
Smith RE, Bayen UJ (2005) The effects of working memory resource availability on prospective memory: a formal modeling approach. Exp Psychol 52:243–256. doi:10.1027/1618-3169.52.4.243
Smith RE, Bayen UJ (2006) The source of adult age differences in prospective memory: a multinomial modeling approach. J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn 32:623–635. doi:10.1037/0278-7393.32.3.623
Smith RE, Bayen UJ, Martin C (2010) The cognitive processes underlying event- based prospective memory in school age children and young adults: a formal model- based study. Dev Psychol 46:230–244. doi:10.1037/a0017100
Spaniol J, Bayen UJ (2002) When is schematic knowledge used in source monitoring? J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn 28:631–651. doi:10.1037/0278-7393.28.4.631
Steinmetz KRM, Addis DR, Kensinger EA (2010) The effect of arousal on the emotional memory network depends on valence. NeuroImage 53:318–324. doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2010.06.015
Talmi D, Schimack U, Paterson T, Moscovitch M (2007) The role of attention and relatedness in emotionally enhanced memory. Emotion 7:89–102. doi:10.1037/1528- 3542.7.1.89
Tucker JA, Vuchinich RE (1983) An information processing analysis of the effects of alcohol on perceptions of facial emotions. Psychopharmacology 79:215–219. doi:10.1007/BF00427815
Walter NT, Mutic S, Markett S, Montag C, Klein AM, Reuter M (2011) The influence of alcohol intake and alcohol expectations on the recognition of emotions. Alcohol Alcohol 46:680–685. doi:10.1093/alcalc/agr082
Weissenborn R, Duka T (2003) Acute alcohol effects on cognitive function in social drinkers: their relationship to drinking habits. Psychopharmacology 165:306–312. doi:10.1007/s00213-002-1281-1
White AM (2003) What happened? Alcohol, memory blackouts, and the brain. Alcohol Res Health 27:186–196
Acknowledgments
We thank Siegmund Switala for technical assistance and Lennart Friese, Victoria Gerling, Lea Krebs, Mona Kusch, Kristina Robatzek, Marina Sabinasz, and Kira Schwarzer for their help with data collection. Jane Zagorski provided comments on an earlier draft of the manuscript. We thank all the reviewers for their helpful comments on our manuscript.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Appendix
Appendix
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Walter, N.T., Bayen, U.J. Selective effects of acute alcohol intake on the prospective and retrospective components of a prospective-memory task with emotional targets. Psychopharmacology 233, 325–339 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-015-4110-z
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-015-4110-z