Acute alcohol consumption is associated with socially inappropriate behaviour. Such behaviour could in part reflect the potential of alcohol to interfere with social cognition.
In this experiment we tested the hypothesis that acute alcohol consumption by regular heavy social drinking young adults would compromise an aspect of social cognition, namely theory of mind (understanding intentions, emotions and beliefs).
Participants who had consumed 6–8 units of alcohol showed specific impairments on two theory of mind tests: identification of faux pas and emotion recognition.
This result suggests that alcohol consumption could lead to social problems secondary to difficulties in interpreting the behaviour of others due to theory of mind impairments.
Request Reprint E-Mail: I.J.Mitchell@bham.ac.uk
