Impact of positive and anxious mood on implicit alcohol-related cognitions in internally motivated undergraduate drinkers

We explored the impact of musically induced positive and anxious mood on the implicit alcohol-related cognitions of 48 undergraduate students who drink either to enhance positive mood states (EM) or to cope with anxiety (CM-anxiety). Participants completed a post-mood induction computerized alcohol Stroop task that taps implicit alcohol-related cognitions. As hypothesized, CM-anxiety participants in the anxious (but not those in the positive) mood condition showed longer colour-naming latencies for alcohol (vs. non-alcohol) targets (i.e., an attentional bias toward alcohol-related stimuli). Also conforming to expectation was the finding that EM participants in the positive (but not those in the anxious) mood condition displayed longer colour-naming latencies for (i.e., an attentional bias toward) alcohol (vs. non-alcohol) target words.