Give me just a little more time: effects of alcohol on the failure and recovery of cognitive control.

Numerous externalizing behaviors, from aggression to risk taking to drug abuse, stem from impaired cognitive control, including that brought about by the acute effects of alcohol. Although research generally indicates that alcohol impairs cognitive abilities, a close examination of the literature suggests that alcohol's effects are quite variable and likely depend on a number of contextual factors. The purpose of the current study was to characterize the effects of alcohol on cognitive control in terms of neural and behavioral responses to successful and unsuccessful control attempts. Participants were randomly assigned to consume an alcohol (0.80 g/kg ETOH), placebo, or nonalcoholic control beverage prior to completing a cognitive control (flanker) task while event-related brain potentials were recorded. Alcohol reduced the amplitude of the error-related negativity on error trials and increased the posterror compatibility effect in response time. Of particular interest, neural indices of conflict monitoring and performance adjustment (frontal slow wave) were attenuated by alcohol, but only on trials following errors. These functions had recovered, however, by 2 trials after an error. These findings suggest that alcohol's effects on cognitive control are best characterized as impaired (or delayed) recovery following control failures. Implications of these findings for understanding alcohol's effects on behavioral undercontrol are discussed.

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