We all have that friend who gets a little out of hand when they start drinking alcohol. Maybe he gets loud, or maybe she starts fights with strangers for looking at her funny. Alcohol seems to induce aggression, changing the brain in a way that makes a drunk person more likely to see minor social cues as threats, but how it does so has always been a bit of biological mystery. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging fMRI , a technique that tracks changes in blood flow in the brain, the team looked at the brains of 50 young men after they consumed either two alcoholic drinks or two non-alcoholic placebo drinks.
These volunteers engaged in a task that gauged their level of aggression in the face of provocation, which revealed the parts of the brain that become more active in such situations. Alcohol also causes chemical changes in the brain which initially can make us feel relaxed. What is actually happening is that alcohol is beginning to suppress activity in parts of the brain associated with inhibition.
How to reduce your drinking. Many people who drink are never violent and even those who do become aggressive won't do so all the time. It has been found that binge drinking increases the likelihood of both becoming aggressive or angry and also being on the receiving end of someone else's temper. Studies also show that there is a consistent and robust association between alcohol use and intimate partner violence — which is any form or physical, sexual or psychological violence against a current or former partner.
Women are at a higher risk of harm against them by a male partner who has been drinking than vice versa. If you have been the victim of violent or aggressive behaviour, report it to the police. If you are concerned that you or someone you care about has a problem with alcohol there is a lot of help available. Here you can find useful links and phone numbers to get the support you need.
Arming yourself with strategies and tips can help you or a loved one take small steps towards big results. Cognitive and neurobiological mechanisms of alcohol-related aggression. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 12 7 , Alcohol-induced impairment of inhibitory control is linked to attenuated brain responses in right fronto-temporal cortex. Biological psychiatry, 76 9 , pp. Available at: biologicalpsychiatryjournal. Executive functioning and alcohol-related aggression. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 4 , Development and evaluation of theories of alcohol-related violence: covering a year span.
Substance use and Misuse, 50 , Alcohol myopia: its prized and dangerous effects. American Psychologist, 45 8 , Alcohol myopia revisited: Clarifying aggression and other acts of disinhibition through a distorted lens. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 5 3 , Each time they "lost," the participants received electric shocks that increased in length and intensity over the course of the trials, and the researchers measured if they retaliated in kind.
People who were present-focused and drunk shocked their opponents longer and harder than anyone else in the study," he said. Men were more aggressive than women overall, but the effects of alcohol and personality were similar in both sexes. In other words, women who were present-focused were still much more aggressive when drunk than were women who were future-focused, just like men. Bushman said the results should serve as a warning to people who live only in the moment without thinking too much about the future.
Combining alcohol with a focus on the present can be a recipe for disaster. Materials provided by Ohio State University. Original written by Jeff Grabmeier. Note: Content may be edited for style and length. Science News. That trait is the ability to consider the future consequences of current actions. Journal Reference : Brad J. Bushman, Peter R.
Giancola, Dominic J. Parrott, Robert M.
0コメント