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Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Stress-response-dampening effects of alcohol: Attention as a mediator and moderator.
Journal of Abnormal Psychology. 2007 May Vol 116(2) 362-377





The present study sought to characterize alcohol's stress-response-dampening (SRD) effects on multiple measures of stress and whether these effects are mediated by reductions in sustained attention and, further, whether baseline levels of sustained attention moderate SRD.

As hypothesized, differences in sustained attention partially mediated the effects of alcohol on skin conductance (but not heart rate or self-reported anxiety) and served as a moderator of alcohol's effects on skin conductance response.

Findings are discussed in terms of theoretical links among alcohol consumption, specific cognitive abilities, and stress reactivity.

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