Cognitive Performance of Introverts and Extraverts Following Acute Alcohol Ingestion

Forty male medical students were randomly assigned to either an alcohol (1.32 ml/kg) or a placebo group. The 20 subjects in each group were then divided at the median into introverts and extraverts as determined by scores on the Eysenck Personality Inventory. A cognitive test, Raven's Progressive Matrices, was administered to the alcohol subjects at a blood alcohol level of 0.09 per cent and to the placebo subjects at a comparable time after drinking. Alcohol impaired performance on both Sets I and II of Raven's Progressive Matrices. Introverts and extraverts did not differ in performance on Set I administered on the ascending limb of the blood alcohol curve. A significant interaction was found on Set II (administered on the descending limb): extraverts performed more poorly than introverts in the alcohol group while extraverts performed better than introverts in the placebo group. These data support Eysenck's hypothesis that extraverts are more affected by alcohol than introverts. This difference may not become apparent until subjects are on the descending limb of the blood alcohol curve where the depressant‐like effects of alcohol are the greatest

Alcohol · Alcohol intoxication · Anesthesia · Audiology · Big Five personality traits · Cognition · Extraversion and introversion · Eysenck Personality Questionnaire · Injury prevention · Personality · Placebo · Poison control · Psychiatry · Raven's Progressive Matrices · Learning Styles and Cognitive Differences · Medicine · Ophthalmology and Visual Health Research · Optimism, Hope, and Well-being · Psychology · Social Psychology

• Does Drinking Weaken Resistance

  Open Access•Robert N Bostrom, N D G White et al.•Journal of Communication•1979

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