The P300 as an electrophysiological probe of alcohol expectancy.

Abstract

Language-based measures indicate that alcohol expectancies influence alcohol consumption. To relate these measures to brain actions that precede verbal output, the P300 component of the Eventrelated potentials (ERPs) was used to detect violations of individually held alcohol expectancies. As predicted, P300 amplitude elicited by negative alcohol expectancy stimuli was positively correlated with endorsement of positive/arousing alcohol expectancies on the language-based measure, such that the higher an individual's positive/arousing expectancies, the larger was the P300 elicited by negative alcohol expectancy stimuli. These results demonstrated concordance between languagebased measures of alcohol expectancies and electrophysiological probes of expectancy. Although whether these expectancy processes are integral to decision pathways that influence consumption is unknown, these findings suggest that such processing can occur very quickly outside of conscious deliberation. Keywordsalcohol expectancies and event-related potentials; P300 and alcohol cognitions; electrophysiological index of alcohol expectanciesResearchers from diverse domains have increasingly recognized that the brain functions as an "anticipatory machine" (Dennett, 1991) that acquires and stores expectancies of relationships among contexts, specific stimuli, behavioral outputs, and outcomes (Grossberg, 1995;Huron, 2006;Goldman, 2002;Goldman, Darkes, Reich, & Brandon, 2006;Raichle, 2006). In both animals and humans, the comparison of sensory input with learned expectations has been deemed central to virtually all psychological/ behavioral output (Grossberg, 1995), including such widely diverse phenomena as animal reward and reinforcement (Kupfermann, Kandel, & Iversen, 2000;Schultz, Dayan, & Montague, 1997;Schultz, 2004), classical and operant conditioning (Dragoi & Staddon, 1999;Kirsch, Lynn, Vigorito, & Miller, 2004;Van Hamme & Wasserman, 1994), comparative judgment (Heekeren, Marrett, Bandettini, & Ungerleider, 2004;Ritov, 2000), music appreciation (Huron, 2006;Krumhansl, 2002), perception of motion (Kerzel, 2005) and time (Correa, Lupianez, & Tudela, 2005), development of language (Colunga & Smith, 2005), interpersonal trust (King-Casas, Tomlin, & Anen, 2005), and placebo effects (Kirsch & Scoboria, 2001). Because anticipatory/expectancy processes also have been explicated in studies that relate neurophysiological activity to information Correspondence concerning this article should be directed to: Mark S. Goldman, Ph.D., University of South Florida, Department of Psychology, PCD 4118G, 4204 East Fowler Avenue, Tampa, FL 33620-7200, goldman@cas.usf.edu. Publisher's Disclaimer: The following manuscript is the final accepted manuscript. It has not been subjected to the final copyediting, fact-checking, and proofreading required for formal publication. It is not the definitive, publisher-authenticated version. The American Psychological Association and its Council of Editors disclaim any responsibility or liabilities for errors or omissions...

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