The Influence of Alcohol Ingestion on Cognitive Response Inhibition and Error Processing

Alcohol consumption has been known to affect behavior and cognition. In this paper, we review evidence for the idea that alcohol disrupts two important cognitive processes critical to flexible interaction with a changing environment: the individual's ability to successfully and intentionally inhibit or suppress a prepotent response, and to detect the occurrence of an error. In compromising an individual's ability to withhold a prepotent response and in attenuating the brain's capacity to detect action slips, the consumption of alcohol may also prevent the mobilization of further flexible executive control in response to environmental prompts (e. g., to stop drinking when intending to drive a car). Individual differences in these cognitive processes prior to or following the ingestion of alcohol are also discussed.