Impaired conditional reasoning in alcoholics: a negative impact on social interactions and risky behaviors?

Abstract

Aims: To study the 'social brain' in alcoholics by investigating social contract reasoning, theory of mind and emotional intelligence.

Design: A behavioral study comparing recently detoxified alcoholics with normal, healthy controls.

Setting: Emotional intelligence and decoding of emotional non-verbal cues have been shown to be impaired in alcoholics. This study explores whether these deficits extend to conditional reasoning about social contracts.

Participants: Twenty-five recently detoxified alcoholics (17 men and eight women) were compared with 25 normal controls (17 men and eight women) matched for sex, age and education level.

Measurements: Wason selection task investigating conditional reasoning on three different rule types (social contract, precautionary and descriptive), revised Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test, Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire (modified version) and additional control measures.

Findings: Conditional reasoning was impaired in alcoholics. Performance on descriptive rules was not above chance. Reasoning performance was markedly better on social contract and precautionary rules, but this performance was still significantly lower than in controls. Several emotional intelligence measures were lower in alcoholics compared to controls, but these were not correlated with reasoning performance.

Conclusions: Conditional reasoning, including reasoning about social contracts and emotional intelligence appear to be impaired in alcoholics. Impairment seems to be particularly severe on descriptive rules. Impairment in social contract reasoning might lead to misunderstandings and frustration in social interactions, and reasoning difficulties about precautionary rules might contribute to risky behaviors in this population.

Figure 1

Story Paragraph 1 Teenagers who do not have their own cars usually end up borrowing their parents' cars. In return for the privilege of borrowing the car, the Goldstein's have given their kids the rule: “If you borrow the car, then you have to fill up the tank with gas.” You want to check whether any of the Goldstein teenagers ever cheat on this rule. Story Paragraph 2 You will see cards representing some of the Goldstein teenagers. Each card represents one teenager. One side of the card tells whether or not that teenager borrowed the car on a particular day, and the other side tells whether or not that teenager filled up the tank with gas that day. You are concerned that some of these teenagers may have cheated. Story Paragraph 3 As you see each card, tell us if you would definitely need to turn over that card to find out if that teenager has violated the rule: “If you borrow the car, then you have to fill up the tank with gas.” Don't turn over any more cards than are absolutely necessary.

Figure 2. Wason Accuracy scores

p:* <0.05; **<0.01; ****<0.0001

Figure 3. Emotional Intelligence scores

EM: Emotionality; SO: Sociability; SC: Self-Control; WB: Well-Being; Adapt: Adaptability; Motiv= Self-Motivation * <0.05; **<0.01