Abstract
This experiment used a balanced placebo design and investigated the effects of alcohol, expectancy, and sex of subject on normal drinkers' recall of social interactions. In a 2 ×2 ×2 factorial design, 48 males and 48 females were (a) administered an alcoholic (.7 g/kg) or a nonalcoholic beverage, and (b) instructed that they had received an alcoholic or a nonalcoholic beverage. Subjects then heard four audiotaped dyadic interactions, and their recall for factual aspects of each interaction was assessed. A significant Beverage ×Instruction interaction showed that alcohol consumption impaired subjects' recall under the told nonalcohol instructional condition, and that the best recall scores were attained by subjects whose beverage and instruction conditions were congruent. Females showed better recall than males. With qualifications, these data support the use of an information-processing approach to investigate cognitive functions relevant to the social behavioral effects of alcohol.
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This research was supported in part by a seed money award to the first author from the Division of Sponsored Research at the University of Florida. Portions of this research were presented at the annual meeting of the Southeastern Psychological Association, Atlanta, Georgia, March 1984. The authors thank Russell Bauer for his helpful comments on the manuscript.
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Tucker, J.A., Vuchinich, R.E. & Schonhaut, S.J. Effects of alcohol on recall of social interactions. Cogn Ther Res 11, 273–283 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01183270
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01183270