Acute alcohol consumption is associated with interpersonal aggression. However, alcohol does not directly cause aggression solely through its pharmacological actions. Rather, alcohol- related aggression is the product of multiple influences interacting with alcohol pharmacodynamics. The overarching aim of the FIRST application is to elucidate the role of Executive Cognitive Functioning(ECF) in alcohol-related aggression. ECF is defined as a """"""""higher-order"""""""" cognitive construct involved in the planning, initiation, and regulation of goal-directed behavior. ECF encompasses abilities such as attentional control, strategic goal planning, abstract reasoning, temporal response sequencing, and the organization of information in working memory. Specifically, this project will delineate the impact of ECF in conjunction with two other salient individual difference variables (alcohol expectancies and dispositional aggressivity), and one historical variable (past year drinking history), on intoxicated aggression under varying levels of contextual provocation. Evidence implicating ECF in alcohol-related aggression is based on data demonstrating that 1) ECF is a strong predictor of sober state aggressive behavior, and 2) acute alcohol consumption differentially disrupts ECF relative to other cognitive processes. The role of ECF (in conjunction with other key variables) in the expression of intoxicated aggression has not been systematically studied. Subjects will be 320 young adult male and female social drinkers, randomly assigned to either a Placebo or an Alcohol group. A battery of validated neuropsychological tests will measure ECF. Aggression will be assessed using the well-established Taylor-Aggression Paradigm (TAP). The TAP measures reactive aggression, an interpersonally hostile reaction manifested in relation provocation. This large laboratory- based project will elucidate an aggregate set of influences integral to the determination of alcohol-related aggression in both men and women that can be later verified in more naturalistic settings.
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