RT Journal Article
T1 Moderate acute alcohol intoxication has minimal effect on surround suppression measured with a motion direction discrimination task.
A1 Read, Jenny C A
A1 Georgiou, Renos
A1 Brash, Claire
A1 Yazdani, Partow
A1 Whittaker, Roger
A1 Trevelyan, Andrew J
A1 Serrano Pedraza, Ignacio
AB A well-studied paradox of motion perception is that, in order to correctly judge direction in high-contrast stimuli, subjects need to observe motion for longer in large stimuli than in small stimuli. This effect is one of several perceptual effects known generally as "surround suppression." It is usually attributed to center-surround antagonism between neurons in visual cortex, believed to be mediated by GABA-ergic inhibition. Accordingly, several studies have reported that this index of surround suppression is reduced in groups known to have reduced GABA-ergic inhibition, including older people and people with schizophrenia and major depressive disorder. In this study, we examined the effect on this index of moderate amounts of ethanol alcohol. Among its many effects on the nervous system, alcohol potentiates GABA-ergic transmission. We therefore hypothesized that it should further impair the perception of motion in large stimuli, resulting in a stronger surround-suppression index. This prediction was not borne out. Alcohol consumption slightly worsened duration thresholds for both large and small stimuli, but their ratio did not change significantly.
PB Scholar One
SN 1534-7362
YR 2015
FD 2015
LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/35115
UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/35115
LA spa
NO Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (MINECO)
NO Royal Society
DS Docta Complutense
RD 13 jul 2025