Background: The available picture sets in alcohol research are scarce and display a number of limitations, including poor picture quality, limited number of stimuli and absence of non-alcohol and/or real-life images. In the present study, we developed the Galician Beverage Picture Set (GBPS), a database of high-quality alcohol and non-alcohol pictures embedded in real-life scenarios.
Methods: A total of 201 college students (∼59% females) were assessed by the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test, ∼54% being characterized as no/low drinkers (N/LDs) and ∼46% as risky drinkers (RDs). The GBPS included six types of beverages: beer, wine, liquor (alcoholic drinks); water, juice, milk (non-alcoholic drinks). Additionally, two subcategories were considered: orientation (landscape, portrait) and number of people (0, 1, ≥2 people). Participants rated the images for valence, arousal and visual complexity. Objective measures of brightness and color and recognition rates were also assessed. Internal consistency was estimated using Cronbach's alpha coefficient.
Results: There was a high degree of internal consistency within each category (alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks) for valence, arousal and visual complexity scores. A mixed-model ANOVA revealed that RDs rated alcohol pictures as more pleasant and arousing than N/LDs. Conversely, N/LDs displayed greater valence and arousal ratings than RDs for non-alcohol pictures.
Conclusions: The GBPS provides normative data on affective (valence/arousal), perceptual (visual complexity) and physical (brightness/color) values for a large number of images that may be useful for alcohol-related research. Differences in subjective assessments between N/LDs and RDs support the picture set's suitability for studies in young drinkers.
Keywords: Addiction; Alcohol; Pictures; Risky drinkers; Standardization.
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