Mathematical modeling of intoxicated risky decision-making

Abstract

The goal of the present project was to use mathematical models of decision-making to enhance understanding of processes underlying alcohol-related risk-taking. The project aimed to (1) model alcohol effects on decision-making strategies and preference variability in sexual risk-taking, and (2) apply cognitive process models to a traditional laboratory measure of impulsivity to determine the effects of acute intoxication on processes underlying behavior. These aims were achieved using retrospective analysis of previously collected data from two individual alcohol administration studies, which are presented as distinct manuscripts. The first paper replicated a previous finding that young adults make rational hypothetical sexual decisions (Hatz et al., 2020) and demonstrated that acute alcohol intoxication does not impact the rationality of sexual decision-making. The second paper used drift diffusion models to demonstrate that acute intoxication both impairs performance on a laboratory inhibitory control task and impacts underlying cognitive processes (i.e., rate of evidence accumulation and response caution) which contribute to impaired reaction time (RT). Together, these studies identify underlying factors contributing to impulsivity and risk-taking and suggest the utility of using quantitative models in addictions research.