Abstract
Twenty male medical students were tested on the Shipley-Hartford during an alcohol and placebo condition (counterbalanced) to determine the effects of prior experience on a cognitive task during subsequent performance under alcohol. Significant drug and Drug by Order interaction effects were obtained for the abstraction section where practice effects are typically reported. However, only a significant within-Ss drug effect was obtained for the vocabulary section where practice effects are minimal. A significant correlation was obtained between performance and blood alcohol level only for the group tested first under alcohol. These results indicate that cognitive performance under alcohol may be related to the prior experience that the S has obtained before testing.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
CARPENTER, J., MOORE, O., SNYDER, C, & LISANSKY, E. Alcohol and higher-order problem solving. Quarterly Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 1961, 22, 183–222.
CARPENTER, J., & ROSS, B. Effect of alcohol on short term memory. Quarterly Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 1965, 26, 561–579.
FRANKENHAEUSER, M., MYRSTEN, A., & JARPE, G. Effects of a moderate dose of alcohol on intellectual functions. Psychopharmacologia, 1962, 3, 344–351.
GOODWIN, D. W., POWELL, B., BREMER, D., HOINE, H., & STERN, J. Alcohol and recall: State-dependent effects in man. Science, 1969, 163, 1358–1360.
LEWIS, E., DUSTMAN, R., & BECK, E. The effect of alcohol on sensory phenomena and cognitive and motor tasks. Quarterly Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 1969, 30, 618–633.
RUIZ, R. A., & KRAUSS, H. H. Test-retest reliability and practice effect with the Shipley-Institute of Living Scale. Psychological Reports, 1967, 20, 1085–1086.
SCHALOCK, R. L., & WAHLER, H. J. Changes in Shipley-Hartford scores with five repeated test administrations: Statistical conventions vs behavioral evidence. Psychological Reports, 1968, 22, 243–246.
STORM, T., & CAIRD, W. K. The effects of alcohol on serial verbal learning in chronic alcoholics. Psychonomic Science, 1967, 9, 43–44.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
This investigation was supported in part by Public Health Service Grant 14702 from the National Institute of Mental Health subproject “Neuropsychological Concomitants of Alcohol” under the direction of Oscar A. Parsons and Arthur Vega.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Jones, B.M. Cognitive performance during acute alcohol intoxication: The effects of prior task experience on performance. Psychon Sci 26, 327–329 (1972). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03328633
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03328633