Male-initiated sexual aggression toward female acquaintances is a major public-health problem in adolescence and early adulthood. The efficacy of existing prevention programs has been disappointing, necessitating the conduct of innovative basic science research that will lay the foundation for the development of novel prevention strategies. Risk of sexual aggression between acquaintances is associated both theoretically and empirically with alcohol use and with misperception of women's sexual-interest cues. Research also demonstrates that alcohol consumption decreases men's sensitivity to women's sexual interest, but the mechanisms underlying this effect are unknown. The current project draws upon methods from cognitive and vision science to evaluate the role of overt visual attention (i.e., moment-by-moment eye movements) in men's perception of women's sexual-interest cues, and to examine the influence of alcohol consumption on men's attention and decision-making when judging sexual interest. The goals are to determine (1) whether men's visual attention to women's faces, women's bodies, and the background context account for men's use of dating-relevant cues when judging women's sexual interest; (2) whether moderate alcohol consumption influences visual attention and use of dating-relevant cues; and (3) whether visual attention accounts for the association between alcohol consumption and use of dating-relevant cues. Eighty 21-25 year old participants will complete alcohol and no-alcohol sessions in a counterbalanced order. While their eye movements are monitored, participants will view 200 unique scenes that depict a woman who varies along sexual interest, provocativeness-of-dress, and attractiveness dimensions in a background context that varies in sexual relevance. Participants will judge the woman's sexual interest after viewing each scene. In a third session, participants will complete assessments of drinking patterns, alcohol expectancies, rape supportive attitudes, insensitivity to women's rejection cues in a simulated rape, and past history of sexual aggression. Multilevel modeling will be used to evaluate the hypothesized links between alcohol condition, visual attention, and men's use of dating-relevant cues. The explicit translational goal of the project is to leverage theories and methods from basic cognitive and vision science to advance understanding of the effect of alcohol consumption on men's perceptions of women. The present project will lay the groundwork for the future development of cognitive-training strategies that target the precise visual-attention patterns generating individul differences in sexual- interest judgments and consumption-related reductions in men's sensitivity.
As documented in the proposal, sexual aggression and alcohol use are closely linked and important public health issues with enduring physical and mental health consequences for victims. The current proposal investigates the visual-attention mechanisms by which alcohol consumption influences men's perceptions of women's dating-relevant cues, which lays the groundwork for the future development of cognitive-training strategies that target the precise visual-attention patterns generating individual differences in sexual-interest judgments and consumption-related reductions in sensitivity. Thus, the proposal is directly responsive to the general NIH mission of reducing the burden of health problems in the population and to the specific NIAAA mission of understanding and reducing the negative impact of alcohol use.
