Search

Researchers have shown that the emotions that athletes experience during sporting competition can be transferred between team members to create collective team emotional states. Nevertheless, collective emotions have not yet been investigated for sporting dyads. In this study, the emotional experiences of 68 doubles table tennis players (34 dyads) were examined at three time points: precompetition, in-competition, and postcompetition. It was found that the intensity of each emotional state differed as a function of match situation (positive/negative). Moreover, in-competition anxiety, dejection, and anger were shown to predict poorer subjective performance, and anxiety was shown to negatively impact future objective athlete performance. Most pertinently, within-dyad emotional aggregation was identified for athlete in-competition happiness and dejection and for postcompetition happiness, dejection, and anger. These findings represent the first quantitative evidence of emotional convergence in sport dyads and provide support for the social functional theory of emotion in sport.

We explored (1) self-reported changes in alcohol use during the pandemic in the UK and (2) the extent to which self-reported inhibitory control and/or stress were associated with any change in drinking behaviour. We used a UK-based cross-sectional online survey administered to four nationally representative birth cohorts (N = 13,453). A significant minority of 30- (29.08%) and 50-year-olds (26.67%) reported drinking more, and between 32.23 and 45.02% of respondents reported feeling more stressed depending on the cohort. Stress was associated with hazardous drinking among 30-year-olds (OR = 3.77, 95% CI 1.15 to 12.28). Impatience was associated with both increased alcohol use (1.14, 95% CI 1.06, 1.24) and hazardous drinking (1.20, 95% CI 1.05, 1.38) among 19-year-olds. Risk-taking was associated with hazardous drinking for 30-year-olds (OR = 1.18, 95% CI 1.05, 1.32). These data highlight concerns for those at risk of alcohol misuse and alcohol-related harm during COVID-19 lockdowns. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11469-021-00599-8.

Background: Exposure to stress and trait impulsivity are independent predictors of relapse in recovering alcoholics, but potential mechanisms that link these two risk-factors in terms of their putative additive or interactive contributions to relapse are not known. The aim of this study was to use a model of stress-induced relapse to test the hypothesis that acute psychosocial stress increases craving for alcohol in social drinkers. We also tested the hypothesis that change in craving could be explained by variability in impulsivity and risk-taking.Methods: Participants completed questionnaires to assess drinking behaviour (Alcohol Dependence Questionnaire [ADQ]; and an Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test [AUDIT]), craving (Desires for Alcohol Questionnaire [DAQ] and impulsivity (Barrett Impulsiveness Scale [BIS]). Participants also completed two computer tasks to assess risk-taking and impulsivity, the Balloon Analogue Risk Test (BART) and a continuous performance task (CPT). Participants then underwent the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST), and completed a final DAQ to assess post-stress craving.Results: Participants showed an increase in craving following exposure to the TSST. In addition, risk-taking was positively correlated with change in craving.Conclusions: Our data suggested that acute psychosocial stress increases subjective craving in social drinkers, but that the effects may be trait-dependent, with stress-induced increases in craving correlated with risk-taking.

Caffeine has been demonstrated to enhance olfactory function in rodents, but to date, the sparse research in humans has not shown any equivalent effects. However, due to the methodological nature of those human studies, a number of questions remain unanswered, which the present study aimed to investigate. Using a double-blind experimental design, participants (n = 40) completed baseline mood measures, standardised threshold and identification tests and were then randomly allocated to receive a capsule containing either 100 mg of caffeine or placebo, followed by the same olfactory tests and mood measures. Results revealed that despite a trend toward elevated arousal following caffeine for habitual caffeine consumers, there were no changes in odour function. In contrast, for non-caffeine consumers, caffeine acted to enhance odour (threshold) sensitivity but reduce odour identification. Overall, these findings demonstrate a complex profile of effects of caffeine on odour function and, given the evidence from the wider caffeine literature, it is proposed that the effects of caffeine might be limited to older populations.

Objectives: To determine the top 10 research priorities in Smell and Taste Disorders (SATD). Design: After steering group was established, an electronic survey was disseminated to determine the list of questions. After removing out-of-scope responses, the remainder were consolidated to create summary questions. A literature search was conducted to remove already answered questions. A second survey was used to determine the top questions that formed the subject of final debate at a workshop attended by clinicians and patients to determine the top 10 priorities. Setting: A James Lind Alliance Priority Setting Partnership (JLAPSP) was established by FifthSense to identify the top 10 research questions in SATDs in the United Kingdom. Participant: All stakeholders in SATDs (patients, healthcare professionals, family, carers, researchers). Main outcome measures: Final 10 research priorities. Results: The 665 respondents to the initial survey provided 1698 research questions. Thirteen were out-of-scope and removed; remaining 1685 were then consolidated to form 147 summary questions. Following literature search and discussion with the steering group, 37 questions remained for the second survey, which 235 people responded. The top ten priorities agreed upon in the workshop covered themes of improved understanding of pathophysiologlogy, improving health services, and managing long-term effects of smell/taste disorders. The most important research question agreed was “How can we further our understanding of the mechanism of disease in the nerve pathways that affect smell and taste disorders, including where parosmia and phantosmia exist.”. Conclusion: We report the top 10 research priorities in smell and taste disorders. These priorities will now empower researchers to secure research funding and provide the basis of the FifthSense research hub.

The functional basis of disgust in disease avoidance is widely accepted; however, there is disagreement over what disgust is. This is a significant problem, as basic questions about disgust require knowing if single/multiple forms/processes exist. We address this issue with a new model with one form of disgust generated by multiple processes: (a) pure disgust experienced during gastrointestinal illness; (b) somatosensory disgust elicited by specific cues that activate the pure disgust state; (c) anticipatory disgust elicited by associations between distance cues for somatosensory disgust and requiring threat evaluation; (d) simulated disgusts elicited by imagining somatosensory and anticipatory disgust and frequently involving other emotions. Different contamination processes interlink (a–d). The implications of our model for fundamental questions about disgust (e.g., emotion status; continuation into animals) are examined.

SummaryBackgroundThe impact COVID-19 on the UK population’s alcohol intake is unknown. We assessed change in alcohol-use and hazardous drinking during the first lockdown, and tested the hypothesis that variation would be predicted by stress and inhibitory-control.MethodsWe interrogated cross-sectional data from the first sweep of the COVID-19 longitudinal survey, comprising 4 national cohorts (13 453 respondents, 19-62 years). Respondents self-reported their alcohol use, stress, and inhibitory control. We regressed change in drinking and alcohol misuse on stress and inhibitory control, adjusting for covariates to account for demographics.Findings29·08% 30-year-olds increased alcohol use post-COVID-19. Stress was a major contributing factor to increased alcohol use in 30-year olds (adjusted OR 3·92, 95% CI 1·17 - 13·15), as was inhibitory control in 19-year-olds (adjusted OR 1·14, 95% CI 1·05 - 1·23), 30-year-olds (adjusted OR 1·18, 95% CI 1.05 - 1.33) and 50-year-olds (adjusted OR 1·06, 95% CI 1·01 - 1·12). We identified several interactions between stress and inhibitory control in all age groups, suggesting a complex age-specific relationship between the risk factors and alcohol use and misuse during the pandemic.InterpretationIn the UK, alcohol use increased in up to 30% of the population during COVID-19, resulting from a combination of factors including poor inhibitory control and stress. It is critical in future lockdowns that clinicians and public health officials are aware of the challenges faced by different age groups, and prioritise and personalise interventions and prevention measures appropriately.FundingESRC, Foundation for Liver Research.Putting research into contextEvidence before the studyWe searched PubMed, Web of Science, EBSCO Discovery, bioRxiv, medRxiv, and PsyArXiv for articles published between Jan 1, 2020 and Sep 1, 2020, with the following keywords: “covid-19”, “coronavirus”, and “alcohol”. We prioritised the selection of references based on relevance, importance, opportunity for further reading, and whether the work had been peer-reviewed. There have been several published articles that address the issue of alcohol use and misuse during COVID– 19, including a number of editorials and some limited empirical work. There were no nationally representative studies about alcohol use in the UK. In addition, all of the studies identified simply reported figures of those using alcohol during the pandemic, and to the best of our knowledge, none covered risk-factors for alcohol misuse.Added value of this studyUsing data from the COVID-19 national longitudinal survey (first sweep), comprising data from 18 000 people across five national cohorts (aged 19-74), we tested the hypothesis that people who reported higher levels of stress, and who self-reported low impulse-control, would show higher rates of alcohol use/misuse during the pandemic lockdown. First, we show the proportion of adults across the UK that are drinking more during the pandemic, and how this differs by age and gender. Second, we show that while higher levels of stress were associated with higher levels of alcohol intake in some (e.g., 30-year-olds), we found that the relationship was complex and multifaceted. Stress-induced alcohol use and misuse was dependent on age and personality characteristics, with low impulse-control predictive of higher levels of alcohol consumption in 19-, 30- and 50-year-olds, and several stress x personality interactions.Implications of all the available evidenceStress, as well as poor inhibitory control, were risk factors for the susceptibility to increased alcohol intake and hazardous drinking during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown. The government, healthcare professionals, and the global media should consider the impact of change of lifestyle and stress that might impact on alcohol consumption among at-risk individuals during any future lockdowns. Similarly, additional support for those that may go on to develop an alcohol use disorder or relapse needs to be put in place.

Objectives We aimed to develop a concise psychometric scale to assess athletes’ in-competition emotions, which would reduce the practical and conceptual limitations of previous measures. Design Four studies were designed to develop and assess the validity of the new Brief In-Competition Emotion (BICE) scale. Method In Study 1, the content validity of 39 emotion adjectives was investigated using expert analysis, 9 adjectives were subsequently removed. In Study 2, 402 university athletes used the remaining 30 adjectives to record their in-competition emotions and confirmatory factor analyses and a reliability removal method was used to create the 10-item BICE scale. Study 3 (N = 109) and Study 4 (N = 74) consisted of both concurrent and predictive validity assessments of the BICE scale. Results Construct validity, reliability and confirmatory factor analyses completed during Study 1 and Study 2 resulted in the development of the 10-item BICE scale, consisting of five composite emotion factors: anger, anxiety, excitement, dejection and happiness. The findings from Study 3 and Study 4 showed that the BICE scale presented acceptable levels of concurrent and predictive validity. Conclusions The BICE scale is a rigorously developed parsimonious scale which offers researchers new opportunities for investigation and provides applied practitioners with a new method of evaluating in-competition intervention efficacies.

Background: Alcohol intoxication has been associated with increases in risk taking behavior and more ambiguously, alterations in emotional perception. In the first study of its kind, we examine how theories of disgust can be used to help explain these effects.Methods: Using a single-blind procedure, participants (n=73) were randomly allocated to an alcohol (Males: 0.68g/kg; Females: 0.60g/kg) or placebo condition and then completed a psychometric measure of disgust (TDDS).Results: Results revealed a non-significant trend toward lower disgust sensitivity in the alcohol versus placebo condition. We did however find a significant negative correlation, whereby increases in breath alcohol level were associated with decreased pathogen disgust.Conclusions: These findings demonstrate a relationship between breath alcohol level and disgust sensitivity which could help explain differences in risk associated behavior.

The present two studies aimed to look at alternative methods of assaying the changes underpinning drug consumption and dependence. Here, we focus on whether olfactory differences exist in habitual consumers in the form of recognition and sensitivity tasks to a caffeine-related odor. In Experiment 1, high (n = 18), moderate (n = 23), and non-consumers (n = 21) of caffeine completed a threshold test for a coffee odor, followed by a recognition test for both a coffee and a neutral odor and, finally, a measure of caffeine craving. In Experiment 2, 16 consumers and 16 non-consumers completed threshold tests for two odors, coffee and control (n-butanol), followed by a caffeine-related implicit association test. In Experiment 1, recognition of the coffee odor was faster for caffeine consumers versus non-consumers. We also found that high-caffeine consumers had greater olfactory sensitivity for the coffee odor compared to the other groups, which was related to craving. In Experiment 2, we again found greater sensitivity for the coffee odor in consumers but no differences between groups for the control odor. Additionally, craving was greater in consumers who had just been exposed to the coffee odor. These findings provide evidence for the first time that regular consumers of coffee have enhanced sensitivity to an odor associated with caffeine. They further suggest that drug-associated odors could be a useful tool in furthering theory in drug dependence. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Separate lines of research have demonstrated the role of mood and memory in the amount of food we consume. However, no work has examined these factors in a single study and given their combined effects beyond food research, this would seem important. In this study, the interactive effect of these factors was investigated. Unrestrained female participants (n = 64) were randomly assigned to either a positive or neutral mood induction, and were subject to a lunch cue (recalling their previously eaten meal) or no lunch cue, followed by a snack taste/intake test. We found that in line with prediction that food intake was lower in the lunch cue versus no cue condition and in contrast, food intake was higher in the positive versus neutral mood condition. We also found that more food was consumed in the lunch cue/positive mood compared to lunch cue/neutral mood condition. This suggests that positive mood places additional demands on attentional resources and thereby reduces the inhibitory effect of memory on food consumption. These findings confirm that memory cue and positive mood exert opposing effects on food consumption and highlight the importance of both factors in weight control interventions.

Previous field research has shown that individuals consumed more alcohol and at a faster rate in environments paired with loud music. Theoretically, this effect has been linked to approach/avoidance accounts of how music influences arousal and mood, but no work has tested this experimentally. In the present study, female participants (n = 45) consumed an alcoholic (4% alcohol-by-volume) beverage in one of three contexts: slow tempo music, fast tempo music, or a no-music control. Results revealed that, compared with the control, the beverage was consumed fastest in the two music conditions. Interestingly, whereas arousal and negative mood declined in the control condition, this was not the case for either of the music conditions, suggesting a downregulation of alcohol effects. We additionally found evidence for music to disrupt sensory systems in that, counterintuitively, faster consumption was driven by increases in perceived alcohol strength, which, in turn, predicted lower breath alcohol level (BrAL). These findings suggest a unique interaction of music environment and psychoactive effects of alcohol itself on consumption rate. Because alcohol consumed at a faster rate induces greater intoxication, these findings have implications for applied and theoretical work.

Aim - Recent research has shown that adopting strong (i.e. high fear) visual health-warning messages can increase the perceived health risks and intentions to reduce alcohol consumption. Separately, it is known that the speed at which alcohol is consumed has dramatic effects on the level of intoxication. In the present study we aimed to combine these two separate areas to understand whether the speed of alcohol consumption is influenced by the type of alcohol health warning contained on the beverage.Subject and methods - In the present study, female participants (N = 45) consumed an alcoholic beverage in a relaxed environment in one of three conditions: no health-warning label, a text-only health-warning label or a pictorial health-warning label with text.Results - We found that compared with the control condition, the beverage was consumed at a slower rate in the two health-warning conditions, which surprisingly did not differ from each other. Despite these effects, product acceptability did not differ between the text-only and control conditions.Conclusion - These are the first set of results to demonstrate how the use of strong health warnings on alcoholic beverages can influence actual drinking rate and further suggest that the beneficial effects of slowed consumption are possible in the absence of any reduction in consumer acceptability.

The pleasantness of a food odour decreases when that food is eaten to satiety or even smelled for a brief period (Olfactory Specific Satiety, OSS), which suggests that odours signal food variety and encourage approach behaviour toward novel foods. In the study here, we aimed to extend this theory to understand the consequence of manipulating the food consumed and its degree of association to the evaluated odour. We also wished to clarify if these effects related to individual sensitivity to the target odour. In the study here, participants (n = 94) rated the pleasantness of a food odour (isoamyl acetate) and then consumed confectionary that had either Low or High association to that odour or a No food control. This was followed by final pleasantness ratings for the odour and a threshold sensitivity test. Results revealed that in line with OSS, pleasantness decreased in the High association group only. This effect was not dependent on any differences in sensitivity to the target odour. These findings are consistent with OSS, and that this effect likely depends on activation of brain areas related to odour hedonics rather than the degree to which the odour is detected.

Recent research demonstrated that noise unconnected to the target stimulus can alter taste perception of food, but it is not clear whether similar effects might be seen with respect to alcohol. This is particularly important, as it might help explain previous reports of higher/faster alcohol consumption in loud music environments. In the between subjects experiment here, participants (n=80) completed standardised taste and olfactory tests, followed by a taste test of alcoholic beverages varying in strength (0, 1.9, 3.9, 5.6, and 7.5pct abv) in a randomly allocated distractive or control condition. Distractive conditions were either music, shadow (listening and repeating a news story) or shadow and music (S-Music). We found that exposure to music led to higher sweetness ratings compared to all remaining groups. Interestingly, discrimination of alcohol strength was impaired for individuals in the S-Music compared to remaining groups which was accompanied by increased negative mood. This is the first experimental work to demonstrate how music and other forms of distraction alter taste perception of alcohol and suggest a mechanism by which distraction leads to increases in alcohol consumption.

Recent research has looked at whether the expectancy of an emotion can account for subsequent valence specific laterality effects of prosodic emotion, though no research has examined this effect for facial emotion. In the study here (n = 58), we investigated this issue using two tasks; an emotional face perception task and a novel word task that involved categorising positive and negative words. In the face perception task a valence specific laterality effect was found for surprise (positive) and anger (negative) faces in the control but not expectancy condition. Interestingly, lateralisation differed for face gender, revealing a left hemisphere advantage for male faces and a right hemisphere advantage for female faces. In the word task, an affective priming effect was found, with higher accuracy when valence of picture prime and word target were congruent. Target words were also responded to faster when presented to the LVF versus RVF in the expectancy but not control condition. These findings suggest that expecting an emotion influences laterality processing but that this differs in terms of the perceptual/experience dimension of the task. Further, that hemispheric processing of emotional expressions appear to differ in the gender of the image.

Understanding how hunger state relates to olfactory sensitivity has become more urgent due to their possible role in obesity. In 2 studies (within-subjects: n = 24, between-subjects: n = 40), participants were provided with lunch before (satiated state) or after (nonsatiated state) testing and completed a standardized olfactory threshold test to a neutral odor (Experiments 1 and 2) and discrimination test to a food odor (Experiment 2). Experiment 1 revealed that olfactory sensitivity was greater in the nonsatiated versus satiated state, with additionally increased sensitivity for the low body mass index (BMI) compared with high BMI group. Experiment 2 replicated this effect for neutral odors, but in the case of food odors, those in a satiated state had greater acuity. Additionally, whereas the high BMI group had higher acuity to food odors in the satiated versus nonsatiated state, no such differences were found for the low BMI group. The research here is the first to demonstrate how olfactory acuity changes as a function of hunger state and relatedness of odor to food and that BMI can predict differences in olfactory sensitivity.

Research has demonstrated that high, but not low caffeine users exhibit an attentional bias to caffeine related stimuli. Separately, the Implicit Association Test (IAT; Greenwald, McGhee, & Schwartz, 1998) has been used to investigate the valence of implicit cognitions to drugs with some contradictory findings, though no work has addressed this issue with respect to caffeine. Here, we examined whether attentional bias would be found in high and moderate caffeine users using a pictorial version of the dot-probe task. A second aim was to explore differences in implicit cognitions between users and non-users. Fifteen high, moderate and non-caffeine users completed a picture dot-probe, IAT, and mood questionnaire following overnight caffeine deprivation. In the IAT, results demonstrated positive associations to caffeine related words for high but not moderate or non-users. Lower ratings for calmness were evident in both groups of caffeine compared to non-users. Dot-probe findings revealed an attentional bias among moderate caffeine users and non-users but not heavy users. The observed positive implicit associations to caffeine suggest that drug acceptability is the key in such perceptions.

The ability of odors to cue vivid and emotionally intense memories is well-known. However, the majority of research has focused on the extent to which odors can act as environmental cues to memory, where odors are presented alongside the stimuli to be remembered, rather than the extent to which pre-existing associations between odor and odor-related stimuli might influence memory. In this study, participants (n = 45 females in each experiment) were presented with words (two groups of odor-associated words and one neutral) on a computer screen and randomly assigned to one of three conditions where they recalled the words while inhaling from a bottle either rosemary, jasmine, or no odor (experiment 1) and peppermint, bergamot, or no odor (experiment 2). In experiment 2, participants then completed a lexical decision task (LDT). Experiment 1 revealed that, for those in the rosemary group, significantly more rosemary versus jasmine and neutral words were recalled. Experiment 2 replicated this effect for peppermint, though no odor-congruent effects were found in the LDT. These findings demonstrate that certain odors are able to cue memory for odor-associated words. Results are discussed in relation to connected odor association research and possible theoretical frameworks to account for these findings.

Aims: The aim of this study was to assess the impact of cues that signal the alcoholic strength of a beverage on drinking rate in young social drinkers. Methods: In Experiment 1, two groups of young social drinkers (n = 20 per group) consumed a lager-based drink containing either 3% or 7% alcohol-by-volume. The pattern of drinking behaviour was observed, and drinking time was recorded. Self-reported mood was measured across the session, and participants also provided ratings of the drinks’ sensory and hedonic properties. Experiment 2 replicated Experiment 1, but used a within-subjects design (n = 12). Results: In both experiments, participants took significantly longer to consume the 7% drink compared with the 3% drink, and the total inter-sip interval was longer for the 7% drink. These effects were most closely related to the participants’ changing estimates of alcohol strength across the test session, alongside concomitant changes in various aspects of self-reported mood. Sensory and hedonic evaluations of the drinks did not affect drinking behaviour in either experiment. Conclusions: The findings suggest that the consumption rate of an alcoholic beverage can be modulated by its alcohol content, and that the perceived pharmacological effect of the alcohol serves as an effective signal to alter drinking behaviour.

Attentional bias for drug-related cues has been reported with a wide range of drugs, but to date the extent to which caffeine consumers show similar biases for caffeine-related stimuli has not been tested. The present study therefore examined this issue in terms of differences in attentional bias for caffeine-related words in High, Moderate and Non-caffeine consumers using a dot-probe word task following overnight caffeine abstinence.This study was conducted to test whether caffeine consumers show an attentional bias for caffeine-related words, and whether such biases relate to habitual levels of caffeine use.Sixteen High, Moderate and Non-consumers of caffeine were asked to complete a modified dot-probe task in order to measure attentional bias for caffeine-related relative to neutral control word groups. The task was completed following overnight caffeine abstinence, and participants also completed mood and caffeine-craving measures.The High consumer group showed a significant attentional bias for the caffeine-related words, but no such bias was seen in Moderate or Non-consumer groups. As expected, craving for caffeine was strongest in the High consumers and weakest in the Non-consumers. Attentional bias in the High group correlated with self-reported caffeine consumption and with craving for caffeine, but neither effect was significant in the Moderate group.These data confirm that High caffeine consumers show attentional bias for caffeine-related stimuli, consistent with current theories of drug addiction.

The worldwide epidemic of obesity has inspired a great deal of research into its causes and consequences. It is therefore surprising that so few studies have examined such a fundamental part of eating behavior: our sense of smell. The aim of the present study was to examine the differences in olfaction in obese and nonobese individuals. Participants (n = 40) categorized as obese (body mass index ≥ 30) or nonobese (body mass index < 30) completed a standardized olfactory threshold test to an ecologically valid food-related odor (chocolate), followed by a taste test. We found that compared with those not obese, obese individuals rated the chocolate odor as more pleasant and were substantially more sensitive to the odor. There was also evidence that their sense of taste was more acute for sour and salty tastants. Correlational analyses further revealed that those measures of olfaction and taste were positively associated with body mass index. These findings suggest that obese individuals show increased sensitivity and preference for an odor associated with energy dense foods. They also suggest that differences in our sense of smell offer a promising area for future research in obesity.

Research has demonstrated that individuals with eating disorders have an impaired sense of smell and taste, though the influence of eating attitudes, dietary restraint and gender in a non-clinical sample is unknown. In two studies (study 1: 32 females, 28 males; study 2: 29 females) participants completed questionnaires relating to Eating Attitudes (EAT) and dietary restraint (DEBQ) followed by an odour (study 1: isoamyl acetate, study 2: chocolate) threshold and taste test. In study 2 we also measured the number of fungiform papillae taste buds. Study one revealed that increases in pathological eating attitudes predicted poorer olfactory sensitivity (males/females) and lower bitterness ratings for the bitter tastant (females only), suggestive of poorer taste acuity. In study two we found that both eating attitudes and restraint predicted poorer sensitivity to an odour associated to a forbidden food (chocolate) and that increasing eating attitudes predicted higher sweetness ratings for the bitter tastant. Interestingly increases in restraint were associated with an increased number of fungiform papillae which was not related to bitter or sweet intensity. These findings demonstrate that in a young healthy sample that subtle differences in eating pathology and dietary restraint predict impaired olfactory function to food related odours. Further that perception of bitter tastants is poorer with changes in eating pathology but not dietary restraint.

Recent research demonstrated impaired discrimination of alcohol strength under distracting conditions. The present study aimed to extend this by examining the effects of distraction volume on alcohol perception. In the study here (between subjects design, 34 females/20 males), participants completed standardized taste and olfactory tests, followed by a taste test of alcoholic beverages (0, 1.9, 3.9, 5.6 and 7.5pct abv) in a randomly allocated distractive or control condition [Control, Shadow Music-Low Volume (SM-L), Shadow Music-High Volume (SM-H)]. Alcohol strength discrimination was significantly impaired in both SM-L and SM-H compared to control, but did not differ from each other. We also found that those individuals with habitually poorer taste acuity were particularly vulnerable to the impairing effects of distraction on alcohol discrimination. This study demonstrates congruent effects of volume on alcohol perception and how this can be modulated by individual taste sensitivity.

The apparent potential of caffeine to enhance human performance has been widely exploited in selling caffeinated products. Self-ratings of the effects of caffeine intake provide the most direct measure of mood change as it affects the caffeine consumer. Caffeine-related mood changes are not always perceived as positive effects. Studies that consider whether caffeine can induce the subjective experience of mood change in healthy volunteers indicate that, in general, small but robust increases in perceived alertness can be detected with subjective rating tools, such as visual analogue scales, in deprived and nondeprived consumers. Earlier human studies, however, suggest that caffeine can reverse the mood impairments induced by the gabaergic agonists lorazepam and diazepam. The chapter shows that recurrent themes emerge regarding factors that modulate the robustness of caffeine-related performance effects. It summarizes the age and fatigue effects in some detail in the mood and the memory section.

Previous research has shown that caffeine deprivation state can exert a strong influence on the ability of caffeine to reinforce behaviour. Recent work has also found evidence for an attentional bias in habitual caffeine users. It remains unclear whether deprivation state can influence attentional bias. Here we explored the relationship between caffeine deprivation, attentional bias to caffeine-related stimuli and subsequent caffeine reinforcement measured by consumption of coffee. In three experiments, participants (between-subjects: n=28; within-subjects: n=20, within-subjects: n=20) were preloaded with either caffeine (experiments 1 and 3 : 100 mg; experiment 2 : 150 mg) or placebo, and in experiments 1 and 2 they completed a novel attentional bias task involving pre-attentive word recognition, and in experiment 3 a dot-probe task. In experiments 2 and 3, this was followed by a test of coffee consumption. Greater recognition for caffeine-related words (experiments 1 and 2) and faster reaction times to probes replacing caffeine-related rather than control stimuli (experiment 3) confirmed caffeine-related attentional biases, but in no case was this affected by manipulation of caffeine-deprivation state. Participants in a deprived versus nondeprived state, however, experienced increases in drowsiness and headaches (experiment 2) and reduced alertness (experiment 3). Further, coffee consumption was greatest when participants were caffeine-deprived than when they were nondeprived. Findings are discussed in relation to prevailing theories of drug addiction.

Although it is generally accepted that the word length effect in short-term memory operates through output delay or interference, there is less agreement on whether it also influences performance through its impact on rehearsal. We investigated this issue by studying the effect of word length on recall and on a recognition task in which output delay was controlled. Word sequences were repeated exactly, or with one pair of words reversed. Two experiments using auditory presentation showed clear word length effects for both recall and serial recognition, although the magnitude of the effect tended to be less for recognition. A third experiment using visual presentation studied the effect of articulatory suppression during the recognition test; again we found a clear word length effect. It is concluded that the word length effect can influence retention through both rehearsal and output factors, as proposed by the phonological loop hypothesis.

Recent work has indicated that both hunger state and BMI can predict differences in olfactory sensitivity to food and non-food odors. The research here aimed to extend this research using a larger sample and simplified measure of olfactory threshold. Participants (n = 94) attended one session where following baseline ratings of hunger, they completed threshold tests for a food and non-food odor. Results demonstrated that when controlling for differences in BMI, individuals in a low state of hunger had greater sensitivity to the food associated odour. Additionally, there was a tendency for increases in BMI to predict lower sensitivity to the non-food odour. These findings support and extend previous research by demonstrating in a large healthy sample where hunger state was not directly manipulated, that detection of food odours is still facilitated in low states of hunger.

Research has demonstrated that both memory and attention are important cognitive factors in the control of eating behaviour. In the case of attention this has been demonstrated with mainly visual attentional tasks such as the modified Stroop and dot-probe. However, it is also the case that attention is driven by the filtering out of information as well as its prioritisation. This preliminary study aimed to examine this issue using a novel Dichotic Listening Task (DLT), to see whether auditory biases in attention were apparent in different hunger states. Two groups of individuals (n=10 per group) who differed in subjective ratings of hunger (High/Low) completed the DLT, where sections of a prose passage to the attended ear were each accompanied by a food or non-food word to the unattended ear. Results demonstrated a significant Word×Hunger state interaction where individuals in a high versus low hunger state reported more food compared to control words with the reverse pattern found for those in the low hunger state. This suggests that for those in a high but not low hunger state, food versus control words received greater attention and confirms the ability of the DLT to detect such effects

This book is a comprehensive account of all the major clinical and non-clinical drugs used in society. By Andrew Parrott, Alun Morinan, Mark Moss and Andrew Scholey, Wiley, Chichester, 2004, 320 pp. ISBN 0471986402. Price £21.99

Positive mood induction has contrasting effects on performance which vary according to cognitive task. Less clear is the role of personality and its interactive effects with positive mood on cognition. In the study here, participants ( N = 86) completed the EPQ-BV were then randomly assigned to positive (MI-P) or neutral (MI-N) mood induction, and completed three cognitive tasks: creativity, executive function and free recall. As predicted, greater increases in positive mood were found for high compared with low extraverts. In the creativity task, performance improved in the MI-P compared to MI-N condition for high extraverts but not low extraverts. Positive mood impaired free recall performance whilst no differences were found in executive function tasks. These findings are the first to show how stable personality characteristics interacting with positive mood induction contribute to enhance creativity.

Motivational state has been found to influence visual attentional bias and evaluation of food-related stimuli. The study here aimed to extend this research to investigate whether such biases are also evident in the auditory domain and whether motivational state is associated with changes in the implicit evaluation of food words. Thirty participants, randomly allocated to a pre-lunch or post-lunch condition completed a dichotic listening task (DLT) and implicit association test (IAT). For the IAT, participants in the pre-lunch group were slower to associate food with unpleasant words than the post-lunch group, but motivational state did not affect detection of food words in the DLT. These findings suggest that implicit attitudes toward food can vary with motivational state.