These results were interpreted as indicating that those youths under the effects of alcohol need to activate more cognitive resources during the inhibition process Euser and Franken, Despite the well-established view that alcohol impairs inhibitory control, to date only one fMRI study has assessed the effect of acute alcohol ingestion in young people during response inhibition Schuckit et al.
In line with other studies that considered jointly young and adult participants Anderson et al. However, additional research in this field is needed to clarify the impact of acute alcohol consumption on brain functioning related to response inhibition at this young age.
BD or heavy episodic drinking , i. Heffernan et al. Studies about inhibitory control, although still rare, have reported that BD is associated with abnormalities in brain function and behavioural performance related to response inhibition. In this sense, neuropsychological studies have shown poor performance in several tasks assessing inhibitory processes in youths with a BD pattern Townshend and Duka, ; Nederkoorn et al.
For instance, Townshend and Duka observed that young BD women had more difficulties to inhibit their response to alerting stimuli in a vigilance task than controls, which was interpreted as a sign of a deficit in the frontal inhibitory control.
More recently, Nederkoorn et al. Although these data are suggestive of a greater vulnerability in females to the neurotoxic effects of alcohol on inhibitory control, which is consistent with the stronger structural and functional impairments observed in women with an alcohol use disorder Caldwell et al.
The three electrophysiological studies that to date have examined the effects of alcohol on inhibitory processes in young binge or heavy drinkers have shown anomalies both in the latency Petit et al. In the study by Petit et al. These results were interpreted as indicative of the activation of additional neural resources to compensate emerging functional alterations in the regions engaged in response inhibition, which would allow binge drinkers to perform an efficient inhibitory control.
Finally, the study conducted by Smith and Mattick in press showed longer SS reaction time in young female heavy drinkers than in female controls as well as larger P3 increase for successful compared with failed inhibition trials in female heavy drinkers. Following the authors, these results were indicative that females who regularly drink heavily needed longer time and greater cognitive effort to inhibit the response correctly.
On the other hand, to our knowledge, the only neuroimaging study examining the response inhibition in adolescent binge drinkers is the one conducted by Wetherill et al. In this study, Xiao et al.
According to the authors, the hyperreactivity of this neural system could entail difficulties to inhibit the desire to consume alcohol. Impulsivity is a psychological construct closely linked to inhibitory control. This term includes those behaviours that are risky, poorly planned, and that entail undesirable or negative consequences e.
Evenden, ; Mitchell, Within neuropsychology and cognitive neuroscience, impulsivity is often associated with disinhibition , and it is thought to arise from an impairment of inhibitory control Enticott et al.
Impulsivity, similar to inhibitory control, plays a major role in alcohol-related disorders, as is demonstrated by the fact that a it predicts early onset drinking age and development of heavy drinking and alcohol dependence in young adults Ernst et al.
In the same way, several studies have suggested that excessive alcohol consumption in adolescents and youths is linked to the increased impulsivity during this period Carlson et al.
A decline in this trait that usually takes place over the 18—25 age range has been related to decrease in alcohol use Littlefield et al. Although impulsivity and inhibitory control are related, they can make unique contributions to alcohol use Leeman et al. Although this review is focused on the inhibitory control impairment induced by alcohol use, it is important to note that alcohol may also indirectly affect the inhibitory system.
Other cognitive processes that interact with inhibitory control, such as working memory, are also affected by alcohol consumption. For instance, a study conducted by Finn et al.
Alcohol might thus affect inhibitory control via a weakening the inhibitory system or b decreasing working memory capacity Vogel-Sprott et al. Another important moderator of the relationship between alcohol and inhibitory control is the gender. In this sense, it has been observed that while men display greater disruption of inhibitory control when receiving acute doses of alcohol than women Fillmore and Weafer, , the effects of frequent or binge alcohol drinking on response inhibition appear to be greater in females compared with males Townshend and Duka, ; Nederkoorn et al.
However, the neurocognitive results relating to gender and alcohol consumption in non-clinical populations are still scarce and inconsistent; further research is therefore needed. Given that alcohol misuse is associated with deterioration of inhibitory control skills, response inhibition training could theoretically improve inhibitory control and, consequently, lead to a decrease of alcohol intake Houben et al.
Houben et al. This finding, although needs to be replicated and validated for longer periods, suggests that the strengthening of response inhibition may be a useful intervention strategy for reducing alcohol use. It also underlines the importance of inhibitory control mechanisms on alcohol drinking behaviour as well as the usefulness of the early detection of response inhibition problems in alcohol use disorders prevention programmes.
Adolescence is a stage of life frequently associated with an early onset of alcohol use. It is also characterized by a weak inhibitory control due to the immaturity of the brain circuitry supporting this executive function. These reduced inhibitory skills consequently affect the ability to control the alcohol intake. Inhibitory control processes, in particular the behavioural inhibition, may equally be the cause and the consequence of excessive alcohol use.
In fact, not only a weak response inhibition may lead to alcohol consumption, but drinking alcohol, in turn, may entail a weakening of the inhibitory control, leading to a lower ability to stop alcohol consumption. In this review, we have highlighted the main studies examining the relationship between inhibitory control and alcohol use in adolescents and young adults. Nevertheless, much further research is required to clarify how the excessive alcohol consumption may induce deficits in inhibitory control or how inhibitory control disruptions may constitute a vulnerability factor for alcohol misuse.
The cross-sectional nature of most of the studies exploring neurocognitive functioning in young and adolescent binge drinkers makes it difficult to establish this relationship, so longitudinal studies are needed to evaluate the extent of the interaction between the inhibitory control dysfunction and alcohol use in both directions, as a vulnerability factor and as an effect of excessive drinking.
Another major challenge would be to design prevention and treatment programmes that systematically integrate this growing body of knowledge. Google Scholar. Google Preview. Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University's objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide. Sign In or Create an Account.
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Oxford Academic. Cite Cite E. In my last article, I focused on attachment traumas as one of the keys sources of depression. In this article I want to focus on emotional inhibition as a response to painful or shameful early life experiences. Depression is often an indication that we are no longer allowing ourselves to embrace vital aspects of the human experience; that we have become numb, stilted, inhibited, or cut off.
In the book "Meeting the Shadow" , poet Robert Bly speaks of life as a process of hiding ever more things in a bag we drag behind us. Over time the bag grows larger and larger. From having an initial degree personality, we gradually discover that not all aspects of ourselves invite positive reactions. Sadly, after we have gone through our childhood and adolescence, we end up with only a slice of ourselves out in the open.
Generally speaking, our comfort with our own emotions stem from others being able to handle them. If others either fail to acknowledge our emotions, disapprove of them, or jump in to provide solutions prematurely, our emotions can become scary. It is better to identify a problem at an early age before it grows into something more unmanageable during the teen years.
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Personality Variables The disinhibition effect is not the only factor that determines how much people open up or act out in cyberspace. The strength of underlying feelings, needs, and drive level has a big influence on how people behave.
Personalities also vary greatly in the strength of defense mechanisms and tendencies towards inhibition or expression.
People with histrionic styles tend to be very open and emotional. Compulsive people are more restrained. The online disinhibition effect will interact with these personality variables , in some cases resulting in a small deviation from the person's baseline offline behavior, while in other cases causing dramatic changes.
Does the disinhibition effect release inner needs, emotions, and attributes that dwell beneath surface personality presentations? Does it reveal your "true self. Or a shy man openly expresses his hidden affection for his cyberspace companion. Some people do report being more like their true self in cyberspace. If personality is constructed in layers, with a core or true self buried beneath surface defenses and the seemingly superficial roles of everyday social interactions, then does the disinhibition effect release that true self?
This is a tempting conclusion. In fact, the very notion of a true self is tempting because it is useful in helping people articulate their experiences in how and what they express to others about themselves. The concept also works well, in a humanistic fashion, as a motivational tool in the process of self-actualization.
However, a comprehensive psychological as well as philosophical analysis reveals complexities in this thing called self that stretch far beyond this tempting notion.
In an in-depth exploration of the online disinhibition effect, the idea of a true self is too ambiguous, arbitrary, and rudimentary to serve as a useful concept. Personal and cultural values: Personal and cultural values often dictate what we consider the true and false aspects of who we are. We more readily accept as valid those attributes that we regard as positive. An unpleasant aspect of one's personality is not really "me.
Personal and cultural values may also label the usually polite persona that we present to others during everyday living as superficial or false. However, this persona is the product of years of social and psychological development. As a critical component of the ego's construction and functioning, it is essential to interpersonal survival and no less important or true than other components of intrapsychic structure.
While online people may feel they have more opportunities to present themselves as they would like to present themselves, particularly in the carefully composed text of asynchronous communication. They may have more chances to convey thoughts and emotions that go "deeper" than the seemingly superficial persona of everyday living.
These opportunities are very valuable aspects of cyberspace, but not necessarily evidence of a more true self. What we reveal about ourselves spontaneously, often right on the surface for others to see but without our being consciously awareness of it, may be just as real and true.
Some people are not fully satisfied with their in-person relationships. Perhaps they don't have opportunities to develop many relationships, or those that did develop turned out to be unfulfilling. In cyberspace they may find the companions they need. They feel more authentic in those online relationships, and this becomes a viable lifestyle alternative.
On the other hand, some people who need to deny or rationalize the unfulfilling quality of their in-person relationships may resort to a personal philosophy that idealizes the disinhibition effect and the notion that the true self appears online.
The inhibiting self: The concept of disinhibition may mistakenly lead us into thinking that what is disinhibited is more real or true than the part of us that inhibits.
If we can just peel away repression, suppression, and other defense mechanisms, we will discover the "real" self that lies below. Based loosely on the kind of archaeological approach to intrapsychic structure proposed by Freud, this notion suggests that the personality is constructed in layers, with more true or real features of personality existing at a deeper level. This is a simplistic interpretation of the much more dynamic psychoanalytic model which states that the inhibitory processes of repression and defense mechanisms are components of personality no less real or important than others.
Psychoanalytic clinicians believe that understanding defenses is crucial to the success of the therapy because it reveals hidden thoughts, feelings, and needs. Why does a person repress something? Why is it being inhibited? Bypassing defenses to get to the "true" self may also bypass the opportunity to discover aspects of the inhibiting self that are just as true. When these defenses and elements of the inhibited self are worked through, remnants of them sometimes remain to serve an important function.
Sometimes they evolve into productive aspects of one's personality independent of the problematic emotions that were originally defended. The same is true online. Some people in some online situations become disinhibited and reveal aspects of themselves. However, at the same time, they may not be not grappling with the underlying causes of that inhibition, and therefore are missing an opportunity to discover something important about themselves - something very true about themselves, but often unconscious.
If anonymity in cyberspace eases people's anxiety so they are more comfortable to express themselves, then they also are bypassing an essential component of who they are. Important personality dynamics are embedded in that anxiety. People who are shy in-person may thrive in cyberspace when the disinhibition effect allows them to express who they "truly" are inside.
This is a wonderful opportunity for them. But why is Joe's shyness a less true aspect of him compared to other features of his personality, especially given the fact that his shyness is a prominent feature of his day-to-day living? If online companions, who had formed the impression Joe was outgoing, finally met him in-person, might they not conclude that Joe is "really" shy? And what makes him shy? Are there underlying psychological problems and anxieties that caused it?
Is it a biologically determined temperament, as much research in developmental psychology suggests about shyness. Aren't these possible causes of his shyness also true aspects of Joe? Here we see the arbitrary nature of the "true self" concept. Compromise formations: Quite often when people are online and some aspect of their personality is disinhibited, some other aspect of their personality is inhibited.
After all, the anonymity that contributes to online disinhibition means that the person is "without a name" - something about that person is not known. In online communication, consciously or unconsciously, people conceal or misrepresent aspects of themselves as often as they honestly reveal aspects of themselves.
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