Alcohol use and related disorders, including addictive behavior more generally. The focus is on psychosocial aspects of addictions, specifically the important antecedents and consequences of drinking, and the brain-behavior processes that underlie them. This work has examined the role of alcohol in intrapersonal and interpersonal phenomena such as anxiety and other emotions, cognitive processing, aggressive and sexual responses, and parent-child interactions.
Current Research
Among the ongoing investigations are: (a) laboratory analogue experiments on the relation between alcohol intoxication and emotional response, considering attention and other cognitive variables as mediators, (b) analysis of the role of drinking in prejudice, (c) the application of information about attentional and emotional responses to appetitive stimuli involved in addictions to understanding of craving and relapse, and (d) examination of alcohol effects on visuomotor processes.
Publications
Selected Publications
*indicates graduate student working under Dr. Lang's supervision
Donohue*, K. D., Curtin, J. J., Patrick, C. J., & Lang, A. R. (in press). Intoxication level and emotional response. Emotion.
Vorstius*, C., Radach, R., Lang, A.R., & Riccardi*, C.J. (2008). Specific visuomotor deficits due to alcohol intoxication: Evidence from pro- and anti-saccade paradigms. Psychopharmacology, 196 (2), 201-210.
Buckner*, J.D., Schmidt, N.B., Lang, A.R., Small*, J., Schlauch*, R.C., & Lewinsohn, P.M. (2008). Specificity of social anxiety disorder as a risk factor for alcohol and cannabis dependence. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 42 (3), 230-239.
Curtin, J. J. & Lang, A. R. (2007). Alcohol and emotion: Insights and directives from affective science. In J. Rottenberg & S. Johnson (Eds.) Emotion and psychopathology: Bridging affective and clinical science. (pp. 191-213). Washington , DC : APA Books
Patrick, C., Hicks*, B., Krueger, R., & Lang, A. (2005). Relations between psychopathy facets and externalizing in a criminal sample. Journal of Personality Disorders, 19, 339-356.
Stritzke, W., Breiner*, M., Curtin, J., & Lang, A. (2004). Assessment of substance cue reactivity: Advances in reliability, specificity, and validity. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 18, 148-159.
McEvoy*, P., Stritzke, W., French*, D., Lang, A. & Ketterman*, R. (2004). Comparison of three models of alcohol craving in young adults: A cross-cultural cross-validation. Addiction, 99, 482-497.
Casbon*, T., Lang, A., Curtin, J., & Patrick, C. (2003). Deleterious effects of alcohol intoxication: Diminished cognitive control and its behavioral consequences. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 112, 476-487.
Verona*, E., Patrick, C., & Lang, A. (2002). A direct assessment of the role of state and trait negative emotion in aggressive behavior. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 111, 249-258.
Curtin*, J. Patrick, C., Lang, A., Cacioppo, J., & Birbaumer, N. (2001). Alcohol affects emotion through cognition. Psychological Science, 12, 527-531.
Lindman, R., Sjoholm*, B., & Lang, A. (2000). Expectations of alcohol-induced positive affect: A cross-cultural comparison. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 61, 681-687.
Pelham, W. & Lang, A. (2000). Stress and parenting in adults interacting with children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Alcohol: Research and Health, 23 (4), 292-298.
Breiner*, M., Stritzke*, W., & Lang, A. (1999). Approaching avoidance: A step essential to the understanding of craving. Alcohol: Research and Health, 23 (3), 197-206.
Lang, A., Patrick, C., & Stritzke*, W. (1999). Alcohol and emotional response: A multidimensional-multilevel analysis. In K. Leonard & H. Blane (Eds.). Psychological theories of drinking and alcoholism - 2nd Edition (pp. 328-371). New York: Guilford.
Kidorf*, M. & Lang, A. (1999) Effects of social anxiety and alcohol expectancies on stress-induced drinking. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 13, 134-142.
Lang, A., Pelham, W., Atkeson*, B., & Murphy*, D. (1999). Effects of alcohol intoxication on parenting behavior in interactions with child confederates exhibiting normal or deviant behaviors. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 27 (3), 177-189.
