Effect of alcohol on the sense of agency in healthy humans. (20th June 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: De Pirro, Silvana; Lush, Peter; Parkinson, Jim; Duka, Theodora; Critchley, Hugo D.; Badiani, Aldo
• Is Part Of: Addiction biology. Volume 25:Number 4(2020)
• Page Start: n/a
• Page End: n/a
• Publication Date: 2019-06-20
• Subjects: affect -- alcohol -- ethanol -- impulsivity -- intoxication -- sense of agency; Substance abuse -- Periodicals; Substance abuse -- Physiological aspects -- Periodicals; Substance-Related Disorders -- periodicals; 616.86
• DOI: 10.1111/adb.12796
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1355-6215

Abstract

Abstract: Even at low to moderate doses, ingestion of the widely used recreational drug alcohol (ethanol) can impact cognitive and emotional processing. Recent studies show that the sense of agency (SoA; ie, the subjective experience of voluntary control over actions) can be modulated by specific pharmacological manipulations. The SoA, as quantified by the intentional binding (IB) paradigm, is enhanced by direct or indirect dopaminergic agonists in patients with Parkinson's disease and by ketamine (an N‐methyl‐D‐aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist) in healthy individuals. These findings implicate dopaminergic and glutamatergic neurotransmission in mechanisms underlying SoA. Alcohol has a complex set of actions, including disinhibition of dopaminergic neurotransmission and allosteric antagonism at NMDA receptors. Here, we tested the hypothesis that low to moderate doses of alcohol would enhance SoA, and impact impulsivity and subjective emotional state. We conducted two experiments in 59 healthy male and female social drinkers, who ingested either a placebo "vehicle, " or one of two doses of ethanol: 0.4 and 0.6 g/kg. In both experiments, we observed increased SoA/IB at both doses of alcohol exposure, relative to the placebo condition. We found no correlation between the effects of alcohol on IB and on impulsivity or subjective emotional state. Our findings might have implications for social and legal responsibility related to alcohol use, particularly in states prior to overt intoxication. Further studies are necessary to investigate the effects of alcohol and other addictive substances on the SoA. Abstract : When physical stimuli follow voluntary actions, humans judge actions as occurring later (action shift) and stimuli as occurring earlier (tone shift) than in reality, hence 'binding' the two (Intentional Binding, IB). IB represents a proxy of the Sense of Agency (SoA), the subjective feeling of voluntary control over actions. At doses compatible with driving, alcohol increased IB Our findings might have implications for social and legal responsibility related to alcohol use, particularly in states prior to overt intoxication.