Effects of blood alcohol concentrations on negative punishment: implications for decision making.

OBJECTIVE

A series of studies examined how various blood ethanol concentrations influenced the effectiveness of a negative punishment procedure in a risk-taking/decision-making task. Based on the animal punishment literature plus the impression that ethanol diminishes the effects of punishment and impairs decision making, it was predicted that individuals receiving alcohol would increase their risk- taking behavior despite the presence of a negative punishment stimulus (point loss) given on a variable schedule.

METHODS

In Experiment 1, a within-subjects design with repeated measures was used where 10 male subjects played a modified computer-generated choice game under three levels of punishment certainty, three levels of punishment severity and four ranges of blood ethanol (0.00%, 0.01-0.049%, 0.050-0.099%, 0.10-0.15%)

RESULTS

Results indicated significant decreases in risk taking as either punishment certainty or severity was increased. However, no significant effects were found for ethanol, or interactions of ethanol with punishment certainty or punishment severity. Two additional studies examining aspects of the experimental procedure produced similar results

CONCLUSIONS

Overall, the results of these studies do not support the hypothesis that high concentrations of blood alcohol are sufficient in and of themselves to eliminate the suppression function of negative punishment contingencies leading to increased risk-taking behavior. The implications of these results for understanding blood alcohol effects are discussed.