Biomedical subjects

Fofo Fragopoulos

Publications and source records attributed to Fofo Fragopoulos.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Negative affect words prime beer consumption in young drinkers.

Negative affect is consistently associated with pathological aspects of alcohol use. Priming of motivation for alcohol by negative affect cues may contribute to this relationship. This study sought to determine whether: (a) exposure to negative affect words primes actual drinking behavior; (b) this effect is related to severity of alcohol problems; and (c) these effects are moderated by gender and anxiety sensitivity. Prime words (negative, positive, neutral) were administered using a synonym generation task. Primed drinking behavior was measured in a taste-test procedure, using placebo beer. Drinking scores were significantly greater in the negative affect condition than in the other two conditions, which did not differ from each other. Problem drinking severity directly predicted priming effects of negative affect words but was unrelated to drinking in the other two word prime conditions. Anxiety sensitivity was unrelated to drinking in any condition. Even unobtrusive exposure to negative affect cues can prime drinking behavior in young drinkers, and this effect is tied to the severity of alcohol problems.

Adult↗

PubMed2005

Contingent gambling-drinking patterns and problem drinking severity moderate implicit gambling-alcohol associations in problem gamblers.

Although problem gambling and problem drinking often co-occur, the processes underlying this association are not well understood. This study investigated the effects of contingent gambling-drinking patterns and problem drinking severity on implicit gambling-alcohol associations. Participants were 144 (34 female) problem gamblers. The South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS) measured severity of problem gambling. The Brief Michigan Alcohol Screening Test (BMAST) measured severity of problem drinking. The Implicit Association Test (Greenwald, McGhee, & Schwartz, 1998, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74, 1464-1480) measured gambling-alcohol associations. Participants who reported drinking when they won displayed faster response time (i.e., priming) on trials where alcohol words were paired with gambling win (e.g., jackpot) vs. gambling loss (e.g., forfeit) words. The tendency to drink in response to losses did not influence the priming effect of win cues or moderate the effects of Win-Drinking Pattern on priming. Severity of problem drinking on the BMAST also correlated positively the priming effects of win cues. These findings indicate that a tendency to drink in response to gambling wins and more severe alcohol problems each coincide with stronger associations between gambling win and alcohol concepts in memory. Such associations can promote drinking and its attendant effects (e.g., poor decision-making) in problem gamblers, and thus, may contribute to co-morbid gambling and alcohol use disorders.

Adult↗

PubMed2003

Effects of negative and positive mood phrases on priming of alcohol words in young drinkers with high and low anxiety sensitivity.

This study investigated whether potential emotional cues for drinking activate alcohol concepts in young drinkers. Participants were 84 university freshmen with high or low levels of anxiety sensitivity (AS). A verbal priming task measured activation (i.e., priming) of alcohol concepts (e.g., beer) by positive and negative mood phrases. Time to read alcohol target words was the dependent measure. Negative mood phrases consistently primed alcohol targets; positive mood phrases did not. Degree of negative mood priming did not differ as a function of gender or AS. Reported tendency to drink in bad moods predicted negative mood priming in women, whereas men showed negative mood priming irrespective of their reported drinking tendency. A general association between negative mood priming and severity of alcohol problems also emerged.

Affect↗