Effects of Acute Alcohol Consumption in Older and Younger Adults: Perceived Impairment Versus Psychomotor Performance

Abstract

ABSTRACT. Objective: Perceived impairment and psychomotor performance following acute alcohol administration in older (ages 50-74, n = 42; 22 male) and younger (ages 25-35, n = 26; 12 male) adults were investigated in this study. Method: Double-blind, placebo-controlled alcohol administration techniques were designed to produce peak levels of breath alcohol concentration consistent with an episode of social drinking (40 mg/100 ml). Behavioral measures (Trail Making Test, Forms A and B), as well as measures of self-reported perceived intoxication and impairment, were administered on the ascending and descending limbs at common time points after beverage ingestion. Results: Results indicated that psychomotor performance differences did not parallel self-reported levels of perceived impairment. Relative to younger adults, older adults exhibited performance defi cits on the ascending limb while simultaneously reporting less perceived impairment. Conversely, on the descending limb, older adults who received alcohol reported more perceived impairment than did those who received placebo, although psychomotor performance between these two groups of older drinkers did not differ. For younger participants, a moderate dose of alcohol facilitated performance on the ascending limb; however, these differences were not refl ected on the descending limb. Conclusions: These results reinforce the common knowledge that self-reported measures may not provide an accurate refl ection of performance outcomes and, importantly, that older adults may be impaired even under a moderate dose of alcohol, although they may not be aware (i.e., report) of this impairment. (J. Stud. Alcohol Drugs 70: [242][243][244][245][246][247][248][249][250][251][252] 2009)

Alcohol Doesn’t Always Compromise Cognitive Function: Exploring Moderate Doses in Young Adults

“…Our findings suggest that BrACs consistent with those of a social drinking episode for non-problem drinkers did not compromise psychomotor, set-shifting, or working memory abilities, as measured by three tasks, in this cohort. Null findings for the current study are in accord with previous acute alcohol investigations that assess a variety of cognitive functions (Dougherty et al, 2008;Leitz et al, 2009), including set-shifting (Gilbertson et al, 2009) and working memory (Tzambazis & Stough, 2000). Our results further suggest that low-dose alcohol might aid simple psychomotor ability.…”

“…To maintain double-blind procedures, all other participants received a vehicle-only booster. This booster method demonstrates maintenance of group-appropriate BrACs over time (Gilbertson et al, 2009;Sklar et al, 2012). Task performance did not significantly differ between dose/sex-matched active and placebo booster recipients (ps > .05; low-dose group: Cohen's d for all tasks < .10).…”

“…Working memory was assessed via a visual remember/ignore task (working memory task [WMT]; Gazzaley et al, 2005b). Our laboratory has shown that these tasks are sensitive to lowand moderate-dose alcohol's effects in other samples (e.g., Gilbertson et al, 2009;Hoffman et al, 2015).…”

“…Using a variety of cognitive tasks, low-and moderatedose alcohol, relative to placebo, has produced deficient Field et al, 2010;Friedman et al, 2011), facilitated (Gilbertson et al, 2009;Sklar et al, 2012), and similar (Dry et al, 2012;Guillot et al, 2010;Milani & Curran, 2000) performance. Contradictory findings are also reported for identical tasks and similar alcohol concentrations (e.g., Dry et al, 2012, vs. Gilbertson et al, 2009.…”

“…Department of Health and Human Services, 2010, guidelines) within a restricted age range. Target BrACs were 0 mg/dl (placebo), 40 mg/dl (low dose), and 65 mg/dl (moderate dose), which have produced differential effects in other cohorts (Gilbertson et al, 2009;Hoffman et al, 2015). Psychomotor, set-shifting, and working memory functions were investigated.…”