Performance on a relational integration task is impaired during hangover

Craig Gunn; Tom Crosby; Alice Nanton; Livi Gorvin

doi:10.1016/j.alcohol.2024.02.009

Performance on a relational integration task is impaired during hangover

Alcohol. 2024 Feb 27:S0741-8329(24)00035-1. doi: 10.1016/j.alcohol.2024.02.009. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Craig Gunn¹, Tom Crosby², Alice Nanton², Livi Gorvin²

Affiliations

¹ School of Psychological Sciences, University of Bristol, UK. Electronic address: craig.gunn@bristol.ac.uk.
² School of Psychological Sciences, University of Bristol, UK.

PMID: 38423260
DOI: 10.1016/j.alcohol.2024.02.009

Abstract

Recently, researchers have proposed an updated model of executive functions that includes relational integration, the mental ability to bind information into more complex structures. Hangover is known to disrupt other core components of executive functions, but little is known about how it influences relational integration. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate how hangover influences performance on a relational integration task. Twenty-seven participants completed an online relational integration task, mood and emotion regulation questionnaires during a hangover and no-hangover condition in this naturalistic design study. Results indicated that relational integration was impaired in hangover (p < 0.001, η_p² = 0.562) relative to the no-hangover condition. In addition, participants experienced greater difficulties in regulating emotions (p < 0.001, d = 0.85) and lower mood (p < 0.001, d = 0.88) during hangover. These results suggest that relational integration is impaired in hangover and add weight to the argument that cognitive impairments in hangover may be due to the hangover-related impact on domain-general processing resources.

Keywords: alcohol; cognition; emotion regulation; hangover; mood; relational integration.