Alcohol Selectively Reduces Anxiety but Not Fear: Startle Response During Unpredictable Versus Predictable Threat

Journal of Abnormal Psychology

Volumn 118, Issue 2, 2009, Pages 335-347

  Moberg, Christine A ^a   Curtin, John J ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN MADISON   (United States)

Author keywords

alcohol; anxiety; fear; startle response; stress response dampening

Indexed keywords

ALCOHOL;

ADULT; ALCOHOL BLOOD LEVEL; ALCOHOL INTOXICATION; ALCOHOLISM; ANXIETY; ARTICLE; ASSOCIATION; CONTROLLED STUDY; DRINKING BEHAVIOR; EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN; FEAR; FEMALE; HUMAN; HUMAN EXPERIMENT; MALE; NORMAL HUMAN; SHOCK; STARTLE REFLEX; STIMULUS RESPONSE; THREAT;

EID: 65649151378     PISSN: 0021843X     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1037/a0015636     Document Type: Article

References (67)

1. Anthony B.J. In the blink of an eye: Implications of the reflex modification for information processing. In: Ackles P.K., Jennings J.R., and Coles M.G.H. (Eds). Advances in psychophysiology 1 (1985), JAI Press, Greenwich, CT 167-218
2. Aston-Jones G., Delfs J.M., Druhan J., and Zhu Y. The bed nucleus of the stria terminalis: A target site for noradrenergic actions in opiate withdrawal. In: McGinty J.F. (Ed). Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences: Vol. 877. Advancing from the ventral striatum to the extended amygdale: Implications for neuropsychiatry and drug abuse (1999), New York Academy of Sciences, New York 486-498
3. Baas J.M., Grillon C., Bocker K.B., Brack A.A., Morgan III C.A., Kenemans J.L., and Verbaten M.N. Benzodiazepines have no effect on fear-potentiated startle in humans. Psychopharmacology 161 (2002) 233-247
4. Baker T.B., Piper M.E., McCarthy D.E., Majeskie M.R., and Fiore M.C. Addiction motivation reformulated: An affective processing model of negative reinforcement. Psychological Review 111 (2004) 33-51
5. Baron R.M., and Kenny D.A. The moderator-mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: Conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 51 (1986) 1173-1182
6. Blanchard R.J., and Blanchard D.C. Attack and defense in rodents as ethoexperimental models for the study of emotion. Progress in Neuropsychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry 13 Suppl. 1 (1989) S3-S14
7. Brown S.A., Vik P.W., Patterson T.L., Grant I., and Schuckit M.A. Stress, vulnerability, and adult alcohol relapse. Journal of Studies on Alcohol 56 (1995) 538-545
8. Chapman L., and Chapman J. Problems in the measurement of cognitive deficit. Psychological Bulletin 79 (1973) 380-385
9. Christiansen B.A., Goldman M.S., and Inn A. Development of alcohol-related expectancies in adolescents: Separating pharmacological from social-learning influences. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 50 (1982) 336-344
10. Cooper M.L., Frone M.R., Russell M., and Mudar P. Drinking to regulate positive and negative emotions: A motivational model of alcohol use. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 69 (1995) 990-1005
11. Cornwell B.R., Echiverri A.M., Covington M.F., and Grillon C. Modality-specific attention under imminent but not remote threat of shock. Psychological Science 19 (2008) 615-622
12. Creamer M., Burgess P., and McFarlane A.C. Post-traumatic stress disorder: Findings from the Australian National Survey of Mental Health and Well-Being. Psychological Medicine 31 (2001) 1237-1247
13. Curtin J.J., and Fairchild B.A. Alcohol and cognitive control: Implications for regulation of behavior during response conflict. Journal of Abnormal Psychology 112 (2003) 424-436
14. Curtin J.J., and Lang A.R. Alcohol and emotion: Insights and directives from affective science. In: Rottenberg J., and Johnson S.L. (Eds). Emotion and psychopathology: Bridging affective and clinical science (2007), American Psychological Association, Washington, DC 191-213
15. Curtin J.J., Lang A.R., Patrick C.J., Cacioppo J.T., and Birbaumer N. Alcohol affects emotion through cognition. Psychological Science 12 (2001) 527-531
16. Curtin J.J., Lang A.R., Patrick C.J., and Stritzke W.G.K. Alcohol and fear-potentiated startle: The role of competing cognitive demands in the stress-reducing effects of intoxication. Journal of Abnormal Psychology 107 (1998) 547-565
17. Davis M. Neural systems involved in fear-potentiated startle. In: Davis M., Jacobs B.L., and Schoenfeld R.I. (Eds). Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences: Vol. 563. Issue modulation of defined vertebrate neural circuits (1989), New York Academy of Sciences, New York 165-183
18. Davis M. The role of the amygdala in fear and anxiety. Annual Review of Neuroscience 15 (1992) 353-375
19. Davis M. Neural systems involved in fear and anxiety measured with fear-potentiated startle. American Psychologist 61 (2006) 741-756
20. Davis M., and Whalen P.J. The amygdala: Vigilance and emotion. Molecular Psychiatry 6 (2001) 13-34
21. Delfs J.M., Zhu Y., Druhan J.P., and Aston-Jones G. Noradrenaline in the ventral forebrain is critical for opiate withdrawal-induced aversion. Nature 403 (2000, January 27) 430-434
22. Donohue K.F., Curtin J.J., Patrick C.J., and Lang A.R. Intoxication level and emotional response. Emotion 7 (2007) 103-112
23. Fanselow M.S. Neural organization of the defensive behavior system responsible for fear. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review 1 (1994) 429-438
24. Goldman M.S., Brown S.A., and Christiansen B.A. Expectancy theory: Thinking about drinking. In: Blane H.T., and Leonard K.E. (Eds). Psychological theories of drinking and alcoholism (1987), Guilford Press, New York 181-226
25. Grant B.F., Stinson F.S., Dawson D.A., Chou P., Dufour M.C., Compton W., et al. Prevalence and co-occurrence of substance use disorders and independent mood and anxiety disorders. Archives of General Psychiatry 61 (2004) 807-816
26. Greeley J., and Oei T. Alcohol and tension reduction. In: Leonard K.E., and Blane H.T. (Eds). Psychological theories of drinking and alcoholism. 2nd ed. (1999), Guilford Press, New York 14-53
27. Grillon C. Models and mechanisms of anxiety: Evidence from startle studies. Psychopharmacology 199 (2008) 421-437
28. Grillon C., Ameli R., Woods S.W., Merikangas K., and Davis M. Fear-potentiated startle in humans: Effects of anticipatory anxiety on the acoustic blink reflex. Psychophysiology 28 (1991) 588-595
29. Grillon C., Avenevoli S., Daurignac E., and Merikangas K.R. Fear-potentiated startle to threat, and prepulse inhibition among young adult nonsmokers, abstinent smokers, and nonabstinent smokers. Biological Psychiatry 62 (2007) 1155-1161
30. Grillon C., Baas J.P., Lissek S., Smith K., and Milstein J. Anxious responses to predictable and unpredictable aversive events. Behavioral Neuroscience 118 (2004) 916-924
31. Grillon C., Baas J.M.P., Pine D.S., Lissek S., Lawley M., Ellis V., and Levine J. The benzodiazepine alprazolam dissociates contextual fear from cued fear in humans as assessed by fear-potentiated startle. Biological Psychiatry 60 (2006) 760-766
32. Grillon C., and Davis M. Fear-potentiated startle conditioning in humans: Explicit and contextual cue conditioning following paired versus unpaired training. Psychophysiology 34 (1997) 451-458
33. Grillon C., Duncko R., Covington M.F., Kopperman L., and Kling M.A. Acute stress potentiates anxiety in humans. Biological Psychiatry 62 (2007) 1183-1186
34. Grillon C., Pellowski M., Merikangas K.R., and Davis M. Darkness facilitates the acoustic startle in humans. Biological Psychiatry 42 (1997) 453-460
35. Hasler G., Fromm S., Alvarez R.P., Luckenbaugh D.A., Drevets W.C., and Grillon C. Cerebral blood flow in immediate and sustained anxiety. Journal of Neuroscience 27 (2007) 6313-6319
36. Hefner, K. R., & Curtin, J. J. (2008). Threat probability moderates the effect of alcohol on fear-potentiated startle. Manuscript in preparation.
37. Hogle J.M., and Curtin J.J. Sex differences in negative affective response during nicotine withdrawal. Psychophysiology 43 (2006) 344-356
38. Hogle, J. M., Kaye, J. T., & Curtin, J. J. (2008). Nicotine deprivation selectively increases startle potentiation to unpredictable threat. Manuscript in preparation.
39. Hurlbut S.C., and Sher K.J. Assessing alcohol problems in college students. Journal of American College Health 41 (1992) 49-58
40. Kessler R.C., Sonnega A., Bromet E., Hughes M., and Nelson C.B. Posttraumatic stress disorder in the National Comorbidity Survey. Archives of General Psychiatry 52 (1995) 1048-1060
41. Koob G.F., and LeMoal M. Drug addiction, dysregulation of reward, and allostasis. Neuropsychopharmacology 24 (2001) 97-129
42. Kushner M.G., Sher K.J., and Beitman B.D. The relation between alcohol problems and the anxiety disorders. American Journal of Psychiatry 147 (1990) 685-695
43. Lê A.D., Quan B., Juzytch W., Fletcher P.J., Joharchi N., and Shaham Y. Reinstatement of alcohol-seeking by priming injections of alcohol and exposure to stress in rats. Psychopharmacology 135 (1998) 169-174
44. Liang K.C., Melia K.R., Miserendino M.J., Falls W.A., Campeau S., and Davis M. Corticotropin-releasing factor: Long-lasting facilitation of the acoustic startle reflex. Journal of Neuroscience 12 (1992) 2303-2312
45. Melia K.R., Ryabinin A.E., Corodimas K.P., Wilson M., and LeDoux J.E. Hippocampal-dependent learning and experience-dependent activation of the hippocampus are preferentially disrupted by ethanol. Neuroscience 74 (1996) 313-322
46. Miller G.A., and Chapman J.P. Misunderstanding analysis of covariance. Journal of Abnormal Psychology 110 (2001) 40-48
47. Mol N., Baas J.M.P., Grillon C., van Ooijen L., and Kenemans J.L. Startle potentiation in rapidly alternating conditions of high and low predictability of threat. Biological Psychiatry 76 (2007) 43-51
48. Piper M.E., and Curtin J.J. Tobacco withdrawal and negative affect: An analysis of initial emotional response intensity and voluntary emotion regulation. Journal of Abnormal Psychology 115 (2006) 96-102
49. Sayette M.A. An appraisal-disruption model of alcohol's effects on stress responses in social drinkers. Psychological Bulletin 114 (1993) 459-476
50. Schroder K.E.E., and Perrine M.W. Covariations of emotional states and alcohol consumption: Evidence from 2 years of daily data collection. Social Science & Medicine 65 (2007) 2588-2602
51. Shaham Y., Erb S., and Stewart J. Stress-induced relapse to heroin and cocaine seeking in rats: A review. Brain Research Reviews 33 (2000) 13-33
52. Sher K.J. Stress response dampening. In: Blane H.T., and Leonard K.E. (Eds). Psychological theories of drinking and alcoholism (1987), Guilford Press, New York 227-271
53. Sher K.J., Bartholow B.D., Peuser K., Erickson D.J., and Wood M.D. Stress-response-dampening effects of alcohol: Attention as a mediator and moderator. Journal of Abnormal Psychology 116 (2007) 362-377
54. Sher K.J., and Walitzer K.S. Individual differences in the stress-response-dampening effect of alcohol: A dose-response study. Journal of Abnormal Psychology 95 (1986) 159-167
55. Shiffman S. Smoking relapse crises: The Stay Quit Line project. In: Loberg T., Miller W.R., Nathan P.E., and Marlatt G.A. (Eds). Addictive behaviors: Prevention and early intervention (1989), Swets & Zeitlinger, Netherlands 253-273
56. Sobel M.E. Asymptotic confidence intervals for indirect effects in structural equations models. In: Leinhart S. (Ed). Sociological methodology (1982), Jossey-Bass, San Francisco 290-312
57. Solomon R.L., and Corbit J.D. An opponent-process theory of motivation: Temporal dynamics of affect. Psychological Review 81 (1974) 119-145
58. Steele C., and Josephs R. Alcohol myopia: Its prized and dangerous effects. American Psychologist 45 (1990) 921-933
59. Sullivan G.M., Apergis J., Bush D.E.A., Johnson L.R., Hou M., and LeDoux J.E. Lesions in the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis disrupt corticosterone and freezing response elicited by a contextual but not by a specific cue-conditioned fear stimulus. Neuroscience 128 (2004) 7-14
60. Swerdlow N.R., Geyer M.A., Vale W.W., and Koob G.F. Corticotropin-releasing factor potentiates acoustic startle in rats: Blockade by chlordiazepoxide. Psychopharmacology 88 (1986) 147-152
61. Van Boxtel A., Boelhouwer A.J.W., and Bos A.R. Optimal EMG signal bandwidth and interelectrode distance for the recording of acoustic, electrocutaneous, and photic blink reflexes. Psychophysiology 35 (1998) 690-697
62. Walker D.L., and Davis M. Anxiogenic effects of high illumination levels assessed with the acoustic startle response in rats. Biological Psychiatry 42 (1997) 461-471
63. Walker D.L., and Davis M. Double dissociation between the involvement of the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis and the central nucleus of the amygdala in startle increases produced by conditioned versus unconditioned fear. Journal of Neuroscience 17 (1997) 9375-9383
64. Walker D.L., and Davis M. Role of the extended amygdala in short-duration versus sustained fear: A tribute to Dr. Lennart Heimer. Brain Structure & Function 213 (2008) 29-42
65. Walker D.L., Toufexis D.J., and Davis M. Role of the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis versus amygdala in fear, stress, and anxiety. European Journal of Pharmacology 463 (2003) 199-216
66. Zvolensky M.J., Eifert G.H., Lejuez C.W., and McNeil D.W. The effects of offset control over 20% carbon-dioxide-enriched air on anxious responding. Journal of Abnormal Psychology 108 (1999) 624-632
67. Zvolensky M.J., Lejuez C., and Eifert G. Prediction and control: Operational definitions for the experimental analysis of anxiety. Behaviour Research and Therapy 38 (2000) 653-663