Evidence map›Paper›PMID 24016014›Full record

Trial reportJournal of abnormal psychology2013

Alcohol stress response dampening during imminent versus distal, uncertain threat.

Kathryn R Hefner, Christine A Moberg, Laura Y Hachiya, John J Curtin

Abstract readRandomized Controlled Trial
In one paragraph

Trial report in Journal of abnormal psychology, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 39 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
39citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

39 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Trial
  3. Trial
  4. Longitudinal associations between binge drinking and changes in behavioral and neural threat reactivity in youth.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2026
    Article
  5. Article
  6. A Shared Threat-Anticipation Circuit Is Dynamically Engaged at Different Moments by Certain and Uncertain Threat.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2025
    Article
  7. Article
  8. Altered Effective Connectivity During Threat Anticipation in Individuals With Alcohol Use Disorder.Biological psychiatry. Cognitive neuroscience and neuroimaging · 2025
    Article
  9. Article
  10. Article
  11. Article
  12. Article
  13. Behavioral and brain reactivity to uncertain stress prospectively predicts binge drinking in youth.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2023
    Article
  14. A social contextual review of the effects of alcohol on emotion.Pharmacology, biochemistry, and behavior · 2022
    Article
  15. Alcohol's effects during uncertain and uncontrollable stressors in the laboratory.Clinical psychological science : a journal of the Association for Psychological Science · 2022
    Article
  16. Review
  17. Anxiety and the Neurobiology of Temporally Uncertain Threat Anticipation.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2020
    Article
  18. Review
  19. Article
  20. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Kathryn R HefnerDepartment of Psychology.
Christine A Moberg
Laura Y Hachiya
John J Curtin

Funding

Clinical Relevance of Stress Neuroadaptation in Tobacco DependenceR01DA033809 · NIDA · UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON · PI CURTIN, JOHN J. · 2012 to 2016
$2.2M
Cognitive control deficits in alcoholism riskR01AA015384 · NIAAA · UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON · PI CURTIN, JOHN J. · 2006 to 2010
$1.5M
NIAAA NIH HHS R01 AA015384NIAAA NIH HHS R01 AA15384NIDA NIH HHS R01 DA033809
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Research indicates that fear and anxiety are distinct processes with separable neurobiological substrates. Predictable versus unpredictable shock administration has been used to elicit fear versus anxiety, respectively. Recent research has demonstrated that alcohol may reduce anxiety but not fear. However, previous manipulations of predictability have varied both probability and temporal uncertainty of shock threat, leaving unresolved questions regarding which stimulus characteristics elicit anxiety and are sensitive to alcohol stress-response dampening (SRD). We developed a novel paradigm to closely parallel basic research in animals that systematically varied temporal uncertainty of threat while holding threat probability constant. Intoxicated (0.08% target blood alcohol concentration), placebo, and no-alcohol control participants viewed a series of visual threat cues. Certain cue duration (5 s) blocks were equivalent to predictable shock blocks eliciting fear in earlier research. Uncertain cue duration (5, 20, 50, or 80 s, intermixed) blocks introduced temporal uncertainty regarding impending shock to elicit anxiety. Startle potentiation relative to matched cue periods in no-shock blocks provided the primary measure of affective response. All threat cues produced robust startle potentiation. Alcohol reduced startle potentiation during the first 5 s of threat cue presentation in uncertain but not certain duration blocks. Alcohol also reduced startle potentiation at later times among longer uncertain duration cues, suggesting that alcohol SRD persisted. Trait negative emotionality and binge drinking status moderated alcohol SRD magnitude during uncertain threat. These translational findings corroborate previous reports regarding distinct substrates of fear versus anxiety and have implications for both alcoholism etiology and comorbidity with anxiety disorders.

Indexed as

Stress, PsychologicalAdultAlcohol DrinkingAnxietyBlinkingElectroshockEthanolFemaleHumansMaleReflex, StartleSensory ThresholdsYoung AdultEthanol

Identifiers

PMID24016014
PMCPMC4047525

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
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Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.