Alcohol consumption is associated with increases in aggressive behaviour, but the mechanisms underlying this relationship are poorly understood. One mechanism by which alcohol consumption may influence behaviour is via alterations in the processing of social cues such as gaze. We investigated the effects of acute alcohol consumption on the perception of gaze, using a task in which participants determined whether a stimulus face was looking towards or away from them. Gaze direction varied across trials, allowing calculation of a threshold at which participants considered gaze to switch from direct to averted. Target faces varied in both sex and attractiveness. Thirty social drinkers attended three randomized experimental sessions. At each session, participants consumed 0.0, 0.2 or 0.4 g/kg alcohol, and completed the gaze perception task. A significant three-way interaction involving target sex, participant sex and alcohol dose indicated that alcohol increased the cone of gaze for females viewing male targets (i.e. females were biased towards making a direct gaze judgement), but decreased the cone of gaze for males viewing male targets. Our data indicate that alcohol consumption influences gaze perception, but that these effects vary across sex of both stimulus and rater. These effects may have important implications for alcohol-related violence.
AdamsRBJrKleckRE (2003) Perceived gaze direction and the processing of facial displays of emotion. Psychol Sci14: 644–647.
2.
AntisSMMayhewJWMorleyT (1969) The perception of where a face or television “portrait” is looking. Am J Psych82: 474–489.
3.
AttwoodASAtayaABentonCPPenton-VoakISMunafòMR (2009a) Effects of alcohol consumption and alcohol expectancy on the categorization of perceptual cues of emotional expression. J Psychopharmacol204: 327–334.
4.
AttwoodASOhlsonCBentonCPPenton-VoakISMunafoMR (2009b) Effects of acute alcohol consumption on processing of perceptual cues of emotional expression. J Psychopharmacol23: 23–30.
5.
Baron-CohenS (1995) Mindblindness: An Essay on Autism and Theory of Mind. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
6.
BohnMJKrahnDDStaehlerBA (1995) Development and initial validation of a measure of drinking urges in abstinent alcoholics. Alcohol Clin Exp Res19: 600–606.
7.
BushmanBJCooperHM (1990) Effects of alcohol on human aggression: an integrative research review. Psychol Bull107: 341–354.
8.
CooperML (2002) Alcohol use and risky sexual behavior among college students and youth: Evaluating the evidence. J Stud Alcohol14(Suppl): 101–117.
9.
EllsworthPCarlsmithJ (1973) Eye contact and gaze aversion in an aggressive encounter. J Pers Soc Psych28: 280–292.
10.
EysenckHJEysenckSBG (1991) The Eysenck Personality Questionnaire—Revised. London: Hodder and Stoughton.
11.
FinkBPenton-VoakIS (2002) Evolutionary psychology of facial attractiveness. Curr Dir Psychol Sci11: 154–158.
12.
GamerMHechtH (2007) Are you looking at me? Measuring the cone of gaze. J Exp Psych HPP33: 705–715.
13.
GibsonJJPickA (1963) Perception of another person’s looking. Am J Psych76: 86–94.
14.
HaseltonMGBussDM (2000) Error management theory: A new perspective on biases in cross-sex mind reading. J Pers Soc Psych78: 81–91.
15.
HernandezOHVogel-SprottMHuchin-RamirezTCAke-EstradaF (2006) Acute dose of alcohol affects cognitive components of reaction time to an omitted stimulus: differences among sensory systems. Psychopharmacology (Berl)184: 75–81.
16.
HoakenPNStewartSH (2003) Drugs of abuse and the elicitation of human aggressive behavior. Addict Behav28: 1533–1554.
17.
ItierRJBattyM (2009) Neural bases of eye and gaze processing: the core of social cognition. Neurosci Biobehav Rev33: 843–863.
18.
JenkinsRBeaverJDCalderAJ (2006) I thought you were looking at me—Direction-specific aftereffects in gaze perception. Psychol Sci17: 506–513.
19.
JonesBTJonesBCThomasAPPiperJ (2003) Alcohol consumption increases attractiveness ratings of opposite-sex faces: a possible third route to risky sex. Addiction98: 1069–1075.
20.
JonesBCLittleACFeinbergDRPenton-VoakISTiddemanBPPerrettDI (2004) The relationship between shape symmetry and perceived skin condition in male facial attractiveness. Evol Hum Behav25: 24–30.
21.
KellermanJLewisJLairdJD (1989) Looking and loving: The effects of mutual gaze on feelings of romantic love. J Res Personality23: 145–161.
22.
KleinkeCL (1986) Gaze and eye contact: a research review. Psychol Bull100: 78–100.
23.
KoelegaHS (1995) Alcohol and vigilance performance: a review. Psychopharmacology (Berl)118: 233–249.
24.
LangdonRCornerTMcLarenJColtheartMWardPB (2006) Attentional orienting triggered by gaze in schizophrenia. Neuropsychologia44: 417–429.
25.
LeemanRFTollBAVolpicelliJR (2007) The Drinking-Induced Disinhibition Scale (DIDS): A measure of three types of disinhibiting effects. Addict Behav32: 1200–1219.
26.
LeighBC (1999) Peril, chance, adventure: concepts of risk, alcohol use and risky behavior in young adults. Addiction94: 371–383.
27.
MaylorEARabbittPMJamesGHKerrSA (1992) Effects of alcohol, practice, and task complexity on reaction time distributions. Q J Exp Psychol A44: 119–139.
28.
MulvihillLESkillingTAVogelSprottM (1997) Alcohol and the ability to inhibit behavior in men and women. J Stud Alcohol58: 600–605.
29.
NationKPennyS (2008) Sensitivity to eye gaze in autism: is it normal? Is it automatic? Is it social?Dev Psychopathol20: 79–97.
30.
NelsonTOMcSpaddenMFrommeKMarlattGA (1986) Effects of alcohol intoxication on metamemory and on retrieval from long-term memory. J Exp Psychol Gen115: 247–254.
31.
Pais-VieiraMLimaDGalhardoV (2007) Orbitofrontal cortex lesions disrupt risk assessment in a novel serial decision-making task for rats. Neuroscience145: 225–231.
32.
ParkerLLPenton-VoakISAttwoodASMunafoMR (2008) Effects of acute alcohol consumption on ratings of attractiveness of facial stimuli: evidence of long-term encoding. Alcohol Alcoholism43: 636–640.
33.
Penton-VoakISPoundNLittleACPerrettDI (2006) Personality judgments from natural and composite facial images: more evidence for a “kernel of truth” in social perception. Soc Cog24: 490–524.
34.
PerrettDIBurtDMPenton-VoakISLeeKJRowlandDAEdwardsR (1999) Symmetry and human facial attractiveness. Evol Hum Behav20: 295–307.
35.
PerrettDILeeKJPenton-VoakIS (1998) Effects of sexual dimorphism on facial attractiveness. Nature394: 884–887.
36.
PerrettDIMayKAYoshikawaS (1994) Facial shape and judgements of female attractiveness. Nature368: 239–242.
37.
PihlROAssadJMHoakenPNS (2003) The alcohol-aggression relationship and differential sensitivity to alcohol. Aggressive Behav29: 302–315.
38.
PlantM (2004) The alcohol harm reduction strategy for England. BMJ328: 905–906.
39.
QuigleyBMCorbettABTedeschiJT (2002) Desired image of power, alcohol expectancies, and alcohol-related aggression. Psychol Addict Behav16: 318–324.
SaundersJBAaslandOGBaborTFde la FuenteJRGrantM (1993) Development of the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT): WHO Collaborative Project on Early Detection of Persons with Harmful Alcohol Consumption—II. Addiction88: 791–804.
42.
SpielbergerCDGoruschRLLusheneRVaggPRJacobsGA (1983) Manual for the State Trait Anxiety Inventory. Palo Alto CA: Consulting Psychologists Press.
TownshendJMDukaT (2003) Mixed emotions: alcoholics’ impairments in the recognition of specific emotional facial expressions. Neuropsychologia41: 773–782.
45.
WallisJD (2007) Orbitofrontal cortex and its contribution to decision-making. Annu Rev Neurosci30: 31–56.
