# The investigation of alcohol's effects on threat sensitivity in social context: An event-related potential study.

> **NIH NIH F31** · UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN · 2020 · $45,520

## Abstract

Abstract
 Alcohol’s ability to alleviate stress is theorized to represent a core underlying factor in the development
of Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD). Of note, researchers conducting human alcohol administration studies are
often faced with a compromise between mechanistic precision and ecological validity. Studies employing
relatively precise, objective measures such as fMRI often struggle to incorporate key elements of real-world
drinking contexts (e.g., social settings), while studies conducted in relatively rich ecologically valid settings may
be limited in terms of outcome assessments, relying mainly on self-reports. Therefore, it is an ongoing
challenge to conduct research that offers both mechanistic precision and also integrates key elements of real-
world drinking contexts. The proposed study aims to move towards the identification of a paradigm that strikes
this balance, using novel alcohol administration methods integrating electrophysiological measures of threat
sensitivity as well as in-vivo social context. In line with the National Institute of Mental Health’s stated goal for
the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) project, the proposed study will measure the error-related negativity
(ERN)—a biomarker of sustained threat/stress in RDoC’s Negative Valence Systems domain—that is found in a
social context. More specifically, this study will assess how alcohol’s effects on the ERN may differ based on
individual-level (e.g., anxiety, stress) and group-level (e.g., social familiarity) factors. The proposed research
will be a unique contribution to my sponsor’s ongoing funded study that, once completed, will represent one of
the larger alcohol administration studies conducted to date. Two hundred (half female) social drinkers aged
21–30 will be grouped into 100 dyad groups of either strangers or friends. Each group will be randomly
assigned to drink either a moderate dose of alcohol or a non-alcoholic control beverage, and they will be
allowed to interact freely. After the drinking period, participants’ ERNs will be measured while they perform
the Flanker task in the presence of the other participant (either a stranger or a friend) in the dyad. Self-
reported trait anxiety will also be assessed. The proposed study is innovative in that it is, to our knowledge, the
first alcohol administration study to incorporate the measurement of ERN together with a manipulation of
social context in order to examine the impact of alcohol on sensitivity to threat. The funding of this project will
provide substantial training to an emerging predoctoral researcher in ethics, advanced approaches to research,
quantitative methods, and career development. Overall, this project will shed light on how alcohol and social
context may influence individuals’ threat sensitivity, with implications for prevention and intervention for
problematic drinking. Specifically, the current study could have several important conceptual and clinical
implications, including for understa...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10140843
- **Project number:** 1F31AA028990-01
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN
- **Principal Investigator:** Dahyeon Kang
- **Activity code:** F31 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $45,520
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2021-01-01 → 2023-12-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10140843

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10140843, The investigation of alcohol's effects on threat sensitivity in social context: An event-related potential study. (1F31AA028990-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10140843. Licensed CC0.

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