I'm excited to share a new preprint: In a novel experimental paradigm, we found evidence that stress induces a computational bias during alcohol-related decision-making in favor of alcohol, but this bias was only sometimes strong enough to overcome competing considerations (e.g., taste preferences). - ThreadSky

jonasdora.bsky.social • 42 days ago

I'm excited to share a new preprint: In a novel experimental paradigm, we found evidence that stress induces a computational bias during alcohol-related decision-making in favor of alcohol, but this bias was only sometimes strong enough to overcome competing considerations (e.g., taste preferences).

Reposted from PsyArXivBot

How people decide to consume (more) alcohol when feeling stressed: http://osf.io/c7q9p/

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jonasdora.bsky.social•42 days ago

Interestingly, this effect appeared only in sober participants. This boundary condition suggests that the tension reduction hypothesis may primarily explain initial drinking decisions rather than choices about continued consumption (in the lab).

jonasdora.bsky.social•42 days ago

This offers one explanation for divergent findings in prior experimental vs EMA work: in controlled settings, we minimize competing factors that constrain alcohol use, allowing this bias to manifest in choice behavior; in daily life, practical barriers might interact with this bias when stressed.

jonasdora.bsky.social•42 days ago

I think these findings are quite exciting and open up interesting new directions for both experimental and EMA work on the tension reduction/affect regulation hypothesis. Critical feedback very welcome! Thanks to NIAAA for funding this work.

jonasdora.bsky.social•42 days ago

We tested this with a 2 (stress/no stress) x 2 (intoxicated /sober) design: Participants (N = 160) rated drinks and made repeated choices between alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks before and after manipulations of stress and alcohol intoxication (BrAC=.06%).

jonasdora.bsky.social•42 days ago

Using drift diffusion modeling, we decomposed choices and response times into latent decision-making mechanisms - how carefully participants make decisions, how much they relied on their baseline drink preferences, and whether they developed a bias toward alcohol regardless of preference.

jonasdora.bsky.social•42 days ago

Stress moderately increased choices for alcohol (only in sober participants), but the effect on the bias parameter was much stronger. This is interesting, because in our paradigm stress had to shift the relative value of alcohol enough to overcome a preference for the alternative.

amiyake.bsky.social•41 days ago

Sounds interesting, and I look forward to reading it b/c I see a parallel between this story & a "mood-repair" account of procrastination (something I recently posted here). A negative mood (incl. stress) leads people to try to repair that mood by engaging in short-term pleasure (alcohol, proc).

cdelawalla.bsky.social•42 days ago

Ahhh I’m so excited to read this one!!!

jonasdora.bsky.social•41 days ago

Let us know what you think!

cdelawalla.bsky.social•41 days ago

Also, what a dream team. Omg

criticallyspeaking.bsky.social•41 days ago

Congrats. Nice paper

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