Emotion perception and online awareness following alcohol-intoxication: investigating possible deficits using the complex audio visual emotion assessment task.

Rationale: Alcohol-intoxication is implicated in negative social behaviours, however the mechanisms underlying this relationship are poorly understood. Impaired emotion perception following alcohol consumption may partially account for this link, however limited methodology in prior studies undermines the efficacy of this explanation.

Objectives: The current study investigated the effect of acute moderate-dose alcohol-intoxication on basic and compound emotion perception abilities using contextualised video vignettes. Self-appraisals of performance accuracy were also investigated.

Methods: Sixty-eight participants consumed a beverage containing either (a) an alcohol dose calculated to achieve a BrAC of 0.08%, or (b) a placebo. The Complex Audio-Visual Emotion Assessment Task (CAVEAT) was used to assess emotion perception ability. Anticipatory performance accuracy and emergent confidence judgements were made on the CAVEAT.

Results: There were no significant between-group differences on emotion perception ability and emergent confidence judgements. However, anticipatory performance accuracy was more aligned to actual performance in the alcohol intoxication group compared to the placebo group.

Conclusions: Overall, these results suggest that (1) deficits in perception of facial emotional expressions following alcohol intoxication may not be as pronounced as originally suspected; and (2) the questioning of performance accuracy may prompt intoxicated individuals to anticipate poorer emotion perception performance, which may lead to better monitoring of-and improvements in-task performance.