Differential Effects of Moderate Alcohol Consumption on Performance Between Older and Younger Adults

Differential Effects of Moderate Alcohol consumption on Performance between Older and Younger Adults

Recently evidence suggests that the number of adults endorsing moderate drinking behaviors has increased during the past twenty years (King et al., 2009). Thus, the effects of the moderate alcohol consumptions received a lot of attentions. Alcohol is a kind of depressants, the effect of alcohol taking vary depend on the dose taking, although a low doses of alcohol can enliven a drinker, they do so by acting as a disinhibitor, they can slow drinker’s brain activities that control judgment and inhibitions (Myers, 2013,pp115). Some studies suggest that the low to moderate alcohol consumption has a positive effects on cognitive performance (Verbaten, 2009), and further more some studies indicates that light-to-moderate alcohol consumption may associate with a reduced risk of incident overall dementia and AD (Alzheimer’s disease) (Panza et al., 2012). Analysis of interaction between aging and alcohol effects on neurocognitive process is a further investigation, which designed to investigate how the consumption of moderate alcohol doses, affects younger and older individuals differently. This paper will discuss the research evidence examining whether the cognitive effects of moderate alcohol consumption on performance different between younger and older adults.

The issue related to the effects of moderate alcohol consumption among different age groups was addressed by Sklar, Gilbertson, Boissoneault, Prather, and Nixon, in a study which attempts to investigate the differential age effect of moderate alcohol consumption on the neurocognitive process of efficiency. Fifty-nine participants were divided into two age groups: the younger group includes twenty-two participants between the ages of 25 and 35; the older group consists of thirty-seven participants with ages between 55 and 74. All participants were randomly assigned to receive either a placebo or moderate alcohol dose intend to produce a peak BrACs (breath alcohol concentration) of 0.04%, and the procedure is in a double-blind fashion. The alcoholic beverage contains vehicle and EtOH in a 3:1 ratio, while the placebo beverage only contained the vehicle. All participants have taken breath samples at 25, 45, 55, 65, and 85 minutes after beverage consumption. Then the Posner task was taken 40 minutes after the administration of the beverage. During the procedure the ACC (Accuracy) and RT (Reaction Time) were recorded by the stimulus presentation software, an efficient ratio was derived using these variables, also the measure allows experimenters to examine speed -accuracy trade-offs.

The result of the efficiency ratio shows a significant interaction between age and dose groups (p=0.03). Also, the efficiency ratio did not differ between older and younger participants in the placebo condition, however, in the active alcohol condition, the younger adults performed significantly more efficient than the older adults. Meanwhile, the measure shows that moderate alcohol significantly increased the efficiency scores among younger participants (p=0.05). The RT indicates that younger participants responded faster than older participants, however, there is no significant effect of alcohol dose or an interaction between age and dose. The ACC shows that there is no significant effect among dose, age, and their interaction. According to Speed-Accuracy Trade-Off, ACC and RT were negatively correlated among younger participates in alcohol condition (r=-0.81, p=0.002). In contrary, there was a positive correlation between ACC and RT among older participants with an active alcohol dose (r=0.64,p=0.003). Additionally, the ACC