Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Measuring Heightened Attention To Alcohol In A Naturalistic Setting: A Validation Study, Ramey G. Monem, Mark T. Fillmore

Psychology Faculty Publications

Attentional bias to alcohol-related stimuli is believed to be an important contributor to the development and maintenance of drug abuse. There is a considerable body of research examining attentional bias, much of which has typically utilized image-display tasks as a means to assess the phenomenon. Little, however, is known about the nature of this bias in an individual’s natural environment. The current study sought to implement a novel approach to assessing attentional bias in vivo. Participants wore portable eye-tracking glasses that recorded video from their point of view and measured fixation time to objects they observed. They entered a room …

Physical Aggressiveness And Gray Matter Deficits In Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex, David S. Chester, Donald R. Lynam, Richard Milich, C. Nathan Dewall

Psychology Faculty Publications

What causes individuals to hurt others? Since the famous case of Phineas Gage, lesions of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC) have been reliably linked to physically aggressive behavior. However, it is unclear whether naturally-occurring deficits in VMPFC, among normal individuals, might have widespread consequences for aggression. Using voxel based morphometry, we regressed gray matter density from the brains of 138 normal female and male adults onto their dispositional levels of physical aggression, verbal aggression, and sex, simultaneously. Physical, but not verbal, aggression was associated with reduced gray matter volume in the VMPFC and to a lesser extent, frontopolar cortex. Participants …

High Trait Shame Undermines The Protective Effects Of Prevalence Knowledge On State Shame Following Hpv/Cin Diagnosis In Women, Sarah Mcqueary Flynn, Tory A. Eisenlohr-Moul, Suzanne C. Segerstrom, Christen T. Logue, Jamie L. Studts

Psychology Faculty Publications

Human papillomavirus (HPV), and the related, cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN), are common yet poorly understood physical conditions. The diagnosis of HPV often elicits shame and guilt, which in turn may undermine psychological and physical health. The current study compared shame and guilt responses to diagnosis among two groups: women diagnosed with HPV/CIN and women diagnosed with Epstein–Barr Virus (EBV/IM). Eighty women recently diagnosed with HPV/CIN or EBV/IM completed measures of shame- and guilt-proneness, shame and guilt following diagnosis, and disease knowledge including prevalence estimates (HPV and EBV, respectively). HPV/CIN (vs. EBV/IM) predicted more diagnosis-related shame and guilt. Estimates of high …

Social Rejection Magnifies Impulsive Behavior Among Individuals With Greater Negative Urgency: An Experimental Test Of Urgency Theory, David S. Chester, Donald R. Lynam, Richard S. Milich, C. Nathan Dewall

Psychology Faculty Publications

Impulsivity is a multifaceted trait with substantial implications for human well-being. One facet of impulsivity is negative urgency, the tendency to act impulsively in response to negative affect. Correlational evidence suggests that negative affect magnifies impulsive behavior among individuals with greater negative urgency, yet causal evidence for this core pillar of urgency theory is lacking. To fill this gap in the literature, participants (N = 363) were randomly assigned to experience social rejection (a situation shown to induce negative affect) or acceptance. Participants then reported their subjective negative affect, completed a behavioral measure of impulsivity, and reported their negative …

Laboratory Analysis Of Risky Driving At 0.05% And 0.08% Blood Alcohol Concentration, Nicholas A. Van Dyke, Mark T. Fillmore

Psychology Faculty Publications

Background—The public health costs associated with alcohol-related traffic crashes are a continuing problem for society. One harm reduction strategy has been to employ per se limits for blood alcohol concentrations (BACs) at which drivers can legally operate motor vehicles. This limit is currently 0.08% in all 50 US states. Recently, the National Transportation Safety Board proposed lowering the legal limit to 0.05 % (NTSB, 2013). While research has well-validated the ability of alcohol to impair driving performance and heighten crash-risk at these BACs, relatively little is known about the degree to which alcohol might increase drivers’ risk-taking.

Methods—Risk-taking …

Faster Self-Paced Rate Of Drinking For Alcohol Mixed With Energy Drinks Versus Alcohol Alone, Cecile A. Marczinski, Mark T. Fillmore, Sarah F. Maloney, Amy L. Stamates

Psychology Faculty Publications

The consumption of alcohol mixed with energy drinks (AmED) has been associated with higher rates of binge drinking and impaired driving when compared with alcohol alone. However, it remains unclear why the risks of use of AmED are heightened compared with alcohol alone even when the doses of alcohol consumed are similar. Therefore, the purpose of this laboratory study was to investigate if the rate of self-paced beverage consumption was faster for a dose of AmED versus alcohol alone using a double-blind, within-subjects, placebo-controlled study design. Participants (n = 16) of equal gender who were social drinkers attended 4 separate …

Curbing The Dui Offender's Self-Efficacy To Drink And Drive: A Laboratory Study, Walter Roberts, Mark T. Fillmore

Psychology Faculty Publications

Background—People arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol (DUI) are at high risk to reoffend. One reason for this high rate of recidivism among DUI offenders is that these individuals systematically underestimate the degree to which alcohol impairs their ability to drive. This study compared perceived and objective driving ability following alcohol and performance feedback in drivers with and without a history of DUI.

Method—Adult drivers with (n = 20) and without (n = 20) a history of DUI arrest attended two dose challenge sessions where they received 0.64 g/kg alcohol or placebo, completed a simulated driving …