Alcohol and Alcoholism Advance Access published online on August 6, 2008
Alcohol and Alcoholism, doi:10.1093/alcalc/agn065
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Effects of acute alcohol consumption on ratings of attractiveness of facial stimuli: evidence of long-term encoding
Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1TU, UK
* Corresponding author: Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Bristol, 12a Priory Road, Bristol BS8 1TU, UK. Tel.: +44-117-9546841; Fax: +44-117-9288588; E-mail: marcus.munafo{at}bristol.ac.uk
Received 7 April 2008; first review notified 28 April 2008; in revised form 4 June 2008; accepted 9 June 2008
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Abstract |
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Aim: A strongly held popular belief is that alcohol increases the perceived attractiveness of members of the opposite sex. Despite this, there are no experimental data that investigate this possibility. We therefore explored the relationship between acute alcohol consumption and ratings of attractiveness of facial stimuli. Methods: We investigated male and female participants (n = 84), using male and female facial stimuli, in order to investigate possible sex differences, and whether any effects of alcohol are selective for opposite-sex facial stimuli. We tested participants immediately following consumption of alcohol or placebo and one day later, in order to investigate whether any effects of alcohol persist beyond acute effects. Results: Attractiveness ratings were higher in the alcohol compared to the placebo group (F[1, 80] = 4.35, P = 0.040), but there was no evidence that this differed between males and females or was selective for opposite-sex faces. We did not observe marked effects of alcohol on self-reported measures of mood, suggesting that the effects on ratings of attractiveness were not due simply to global hedonic effects or reporting biases. Conclusions: Alcohol consumption increases ratings of attractiveness of facial stimuli, and this effect is not selective for opposite-sex faces. In addition, the effects of alcohol consumption on ratings of attractiveness persist for up to 24 h after consumption, but only in male participants when rating female (i.e. opposite-sex) faces.