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Alcohol effects on human behaviour under reward and punishment

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Summary

The effect of low doses of alcohol (.80–.50 mg/cc) on human behaviour under reward (money) and punishment (shock) was examined in two studies. The experiments examined drug effects on a response under the following sequence of treatments: 1. reward, 2. conflict (i. e. reward and punishment) and 3. extinction. In both studies, no drug effect on behaviour was observed under treatments which immediately preceded or followed conflict (i. e. conditions 1 and 3). Under conflict, placebo Ss tended to suppress their response while no such suppression was displayed by alcohol Ss. General “problem-solving” during treatments also was examined and failed to alter significantly under alcohol. The evidence was considered to support animal research indicating that low doses of alcohol reduce the suppressing effect of punishment in a conflict situation.

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References

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Waterloo, Canada

    M. Vogel-Sprott

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  1. M. Vogel-Sprott
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Additional information

This research was supported in part by the Addiction Research Foundation and NRC grant APA-93. The assistance of Mrs. E. Thurston and Mr. J. Racinskas is gratefully acknowledged.

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Vogel-Sprott, M. Alcohol effects on human behaviour under reward and punishment. Psychopharmacologia 11, 337–344 (1967). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00404611

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00404611

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