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Biomedical subjects

M Vogel-Sprott

Publications and source records attributed to M Vogel-Sprott.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1992

Expected effect of caffeine on motor performance predicts the type of response to placebo.

Two experiments (N = 56) investigated the relationship between subjects' expectancies concerning the effect of caffeine on a motor skill, and the type of placebo response. Male subjects were assigned to four groups. Three groups expected to receive caffeine but received a placebo. Prior to the placebo, two of the groups received information about the effect of caffeine on a motor skill task which led one group E(+) to expect enhanced performance, and the other E(-) to expect impairment. The third placebo group received no information E(?). A control group E(0) received no beverage, so neither caffeine nor any effect on performance was expected. The expected type of effect predicted the type of placebo response displayed. Group E(+) displayed greater improvement under placebo than did group E(0), and group E(-) performed more poorly than those in group E(0). No placebo response was observed in group E(?). Placebo effects on mood were correlated with subjects' predictions about the effect of caffeine on mood. The role of expectancies in response to placebos and psychoactive drugs is discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

Learning alcohol tolerance by mental or physical practice.

Five groups of six male social drinkers learned a psychomotor task (Tracometer) and subsequently attended five sessions to perform the task after drinking. On each of the first four sessions, subjects received 0.62 g/kg alcohol. On session 5, a placebo was administered when alcohol was expected. During treatment sessions 1-3, two groups performed the task with a valuable consequence for drug-compensatory performance: either information (IO) or information plus money (MI). This MI experience was mentally rehearsed by a third group (MR). Two control groups performed the task, either with no outcome (N), or with money for compensatory performance but no information about earnings until the study concluded (MO). Sessions 4 and 5 assessed the effect of the prior treatments when all groups performed the task with money and information. Groups MI, IO and MR displayed comparable and significantly more tolerance and a stronger compensatory response to placebo than control groups MO and N. The evidence indicates that mental or physical practice associating drug-compensatory performance with some valuable outcome enhances tolerance to moderate doses of alcohol.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

Learned tolerance to alcohol: mental rehearsal with imagined consequences.

Two experiments tested the hypothesis that the acquisition of a new response is enhanced by mental rehearsal which includes the imagined consequence of mental performance. A total of 48 males participated in the research. Experiment 1 tested drug-free learning of a motor skill task. Experiment 2 used the same task to test the acquisition of a drug-compensatory response (i.e., tolerance) under alcohol. Subjects in each experiment were randomly assigned to one of three treatments: mental rehearsal with imagined consequences (C), mental rehearsal with no imagined consequences (N), and rest (R). Both experiments confirmed the hypothesis. C treatment yielded superior drug-free performance, and a greater tolerance. The effect of N treatment was intermediate, and R treatment was least effective. It was concluded that incorporating an imagined consequence of mental performance enhances the learning of alcohol tolerance and the acquisition of a motor skill. Factors that may have contributed to the marginal efficacy of N treatment were discussed, and research implications were considered.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

Learning alcohol tolerance: the contribution of response expectancies.

This paper reviews research on tolerance developed by task practice under alcohol, and concludes that tolerance in such a situation is influenced by the environmental consequence of drug-compensatory performance. Analysis of the evidence proposes that a learned association between the response and its consequence results in a response expectancy. When the consequence of drug-compensatory performance is more valuable, more tolerance is displayed. Support for this learning analysis is provided by some recent alcohol research indicating that response expectancies affecting tolerance can also be acquired by mental rehearsal of performance and its outcome under drug. Further, these response expectancies may be acquired during the course of a single drug dose, and may alter the display of acute tolerance to alcohol. Additional theoretical predictions are discussed, and the possible social and clinical relevance of the evidence is considered.

Animals↗
PubMed1989

Consequences of behavior influence the effect of alcohol.

Four groups of six male social drinkers learned a complex psychomotor task and then performed it 20 times after drinking a dose of 0.60 g alcohol/kg. Group C received money contingent on the display of nonimpaired performance under alcohol. Group I received a less valuable outcome (information only). Group R received money scheduled randomly with respect to compensatory performance, and group N received no outcome for performance under drug. A briefer duration of impairment, faster recovery at higher BACs, and less impairment during declining alcohol levels was displayed by group C, followed in order by I, R, and N, which displayed least resistance to alcohol. These results are consistent with other evidence demonstrating that these particular treatments have a similar effect on chronic alcohol tolerance. Taken together, the findings imply that the learned expectation of some valuable consequence for drug compensatory performance enhances behavioral tolerance to single and repeated doses of alcohol.

Adult↗
PubMed1988

Cognitions and alcohol-influenced performance: the impact of reinforcement contingencies.

The effects of different reinforcement conditions on self-reported cognitions and task performance under the influence of alcohol were examined. Four groups of male university students attended a series of four drinking sessions. During the sessions, the groups performed a visual tracking task under different reinforcement conditions which influence the speed of acquisition of behavioural tolerance to the impairing effects of alcohol. At the end of each session, subjects completed a questionnaire intended to elicit any thoughts, feelings, ideas or images they experienced during the session. Their responses were scored in categories related to alcohol effects, task performance and motivation. The groups differed significantly on numbers of self-reported cognitions related to general alcohol effects and to alcohol effects on task performance; these differences corresponded to differences in the speed of tolerance development. In the group that acquired tolerance most rapidly, several aspects of task performance were significantly correlated with cognitions. These data provide support for the suggestion that cognitive activity may be an important factor in individuals' responses to alcohol and other drugs.

Adult↗
PubMed1987

Reinforcement reduces behavioural impairment under an acute dose of alcohol.

Two experiments employed a total of 25 male social drinkers who learned a complex psychomotor task (Tracometer) and subsequently performed it 20 times under alcohol (0.60 g absolute alcohol/kg) while blood alcohol concentrations (BAC) rose and fell. In each experiment, one group received reinforcement for drug-compensatory performance (RP) and one received no reinforcement (P). The BACs associated with the onset and offset of behavioral impairment under the dose were measured, and these thresholds were significantly higher in RP than P groups; reinforcement delayed the onset and also hastened the offset of drug effects. The accelerated recovery from impairment was considered to imply that reinforcement may facilitate the adaptive process involved in acute tolerance. Since this same reinforcement treatment accelerates the development of tolerance to repeated doses of alcohol, the results of the present research suggest that the behavioural effect of acute and chronic doses may both be similarly influenced by environmental learning factors.

Adult↗
PubMed1987

Family history of problem drinking among young male social drinkers: behavioral effects of alcohol.

Two experiments examined the behavioral effect of alcohol on male social drinkers aged 19-25, who differed in their family histories of problem drinking--21 reported a problem drinker in their immediate family (FH+) and 22 had no such family history (FH-). These groups did not differ in age, weight or absolute alcohol per kg of body weight typically consumed on social occasions. After drinking absolute alcohol (0.83 ml/kg), subjects performed bead stringing and hand steadiness tasks when their blood alcohol levels (BALs) averaged 63 mg/dl on the rising and the declining limb of the BAL curve. The experiments consistently demonstrated that FH+ individuals displayed a greater degree of impairment on the tasks. One of the experiments also explored subjective ratings of the effects of alcohol at matching BALs and found no significant group differences. The greater behavioral sensitivity to alcohol of FH+ subjects and their apparent absence of a concomitant enhanced perception of its effects were discussed as a potential component of their higher risk of developing problem drinking.

Adult↗
PubMed1986

Mental rehearsal of a task before or after ethanol: tolerance facilitating effects.

Two groups of six male social drinkers learned a psychomotor skill task and then drank the same dose of ethanol (0.62 g/kg) on each of five sessions. Sessions 1 and 5 provided pre-treatment and post-treatment measures of task performance under ethanol. During treatment sessions 2, 3 and 4, one group (MRBD) mentally rehearsed the task before drinking and the other group (MRAD) mentally rehearsed the task after drinking. On the post-treatment session, the MRAD group was significantly less impaired (i.e. more tolerant) than the MRBD group. Thus, mental rehearsal of a task under ethanol facilitates the development of tolerance to the behavioral effects of the drug.

Adult↗
PubMed1985

Mental rehearsal and classical conditioning contribute to ethanol tolerance in humans.

Four groups of six male social drinkers learned a motor skill task and then drank the same dose of ethanol (0.62 g/kg) during each of five drinking sessions. Sessions 1 and 5 provided pre- and posttreatment measures of ethanol effects on task performance. During treatment sessions 2 to 4, two groups mentally rehearsed (MR) the task after drinking, either in the same test environment (MRSE) or in an entirely different environment resembling a library (MRDE). The other two groups received no MR after consuming ethanol, and simply performed an auditory detection task, either in the same test room (NMRSE) or in the different room (NMRDE). Posttreatment impairment of task performance under ethanol revealed significant main effects of mental rehearsal (P = 0.04) and environment (P = 0.04). The MRSE group was least impaired (i.e., most tolerant), and the NMRDE group was most impaired. Thus, repeated mental rehearsal and repeated exposure to the same test environment under ethanol each facilitated behavioral tolerance to ethanol.

Adult↗
PubMed1985

Family history of problem drinking among young male social drinkers: reliability of the Family Tree Questionnaire.

The test-retest reliability of the Family Tree Questionnaire to detect drinking problems of family members was examined in a sample of 60 male volunteer university undergraduates. The Questionnaire was completed twice. The first occasion employed a group administration procedure, and an average of 4 months later it was readministered on an individual basis. Thus the length of time and the different administration procedures provided an extreme test of the reliability of the Questionnaire. Test-retest scores of the number of problem drinkers reported by a subject were significantly correlated for first degree and for second degree relatives. The reliability of the classification of an individual family member was also satisfactory. The Family Tree Questionnaire thus appears to be a potentially useful, reliable tool for assessing the incidence of problem drinkers within families of young male social drinkers.

Adult↗
PubMed1985

The transfer of alcohol tolerance, and its relation to reinforcement.

Four groups of five male social drinkers were trained on two different psychomotor tasks, a Pursuit Rotor (PR) and a Tracometer (T). They subsequently attended five drinking sessions where the same dose, 0.66 g absolute alcohol (ab alc)/kg, was administered. During these sessions, groups E and R received 'tolerance training' on the PR task by performing it under drug and receiving 25 cents reinforcement each time their score under alcohol was comparable to their drug-free level of achievement. The other two groups served as controls; group P performed the PR under alcohol but without reinforcement, and group A performed the PR with reinforcement but before alcohol was administered. The reduction of the drug-induced impairment of PR performance from Session 1-5 confirmed that groups E and R displayed significantly more tolerance than the controls. The effect of reinforcement on tolerance transfer to the T task was tested on Session 5. Groups E, P and A received reinforcement for T performance, and group R received no reinforcement. Since the E group displayed significantly more transfer of tolerance than the remaining three groups, the evidence confirmed the prediction that alcohol tolerance acquired via reinforced practice under drug transfers to a new task most readily when this reinforcement is also present.

Adult↗
PubMed1983

Tolerance development in humans with task practice on different limbs of the blood-alcohol curve.

Three groups of male social drinkers were trained on a pursuit rotor task, and subsequently performed the task during five weekly drinking sessions under the same dose (0.83 ml absolute alcohol/kg). During sessions 1-4, group R (N = 10) performed six trials on the task during rising blood-alcohol concentrations (BAC). Group F (N = 10) performed the same number of trials at comparable falling BAC. Group C (N = 5) received three trials at similar BAC during the rising and the falling portions of the alcohol curve. All groups displayed impaired performance on session 1. By session 4, tolerance was evident in groups C and F, but group R remained impaired. The consequences of these different practice treatments were examined in session 5, where all groups performed the task on the rising and the falling limb of the BAC curve. Groups C and F displayed tolerance on both limbs of the curve whereas the R group was impaired on both. Significant acute recovery was evident in the performance of groups F and R, but not in group C. The evidence was considered to support the hypothesis that a compensatory response, which is strengthened by practice, underlies acute recovery and tolerance.

Adult↗
PubMed1975

Self-evaluation of performance and the ability to discriminate blood alcohol concentrations.

Social drinkers who had been trained to discriminate their blood alcohol concentrations (BAC) tended to predict greater impairment of performance while drinking than did untrained controls, although their actual performance on coding tasks did not differ. It is suggested that training in BAC discrimination may enhance caution and concern about behavioral impairment while drinking.

Alcohol Drinking↗