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  • GOOD BEER NEWS! Alcohol allows drinkers to see ‘happy faces QUICKER’

GOOD BEER NEWS! Alcohol allows drinkers to see ‘happy faces QUICKER’

GOOD BEER NEWS! Alcohol allows drinkers to see ‘happy faces QUICKER’

Source: express.co.uk

Professor Matthias Liechti

October 2nd

Research suggests that beer helps people see happy faces faster

A new study has shown that drinking beer affects the way we see specific emotions and allows us to see smiling faces quicker.

And – confirming Shakespeare who wrote of beer “It provokes the desire, but it takes away the performance,” the research also found alcohol doesn’t seem to lead to greater —ual arousal.

But booze does make it easier for people, especially women, to view explicit —ual images.

Now researchers at University Hospital in Basel, Switzerland, have attempted to answer some of the questions.

They enlisted 60 healthy participants – 30 men and 30 women – aged between 18 and 50 and gave 30 of them a glass of beer.

The subjects then underwent a range of tasks, including a face recognition test, empathy test, and —ual arousal test.

The results showed drinking beer helps people see happy faces faster, and it also increased the tendency to want to be with others in a happy social situation

Researchers found the effects were greater in women than in men, but were also greater in those who had previously shown some social inhibition.

Beer also made it easier for people – especially women – to view explicit —ual images – but it didn’t seem to lead to greater —ual arousal, according to the findings.

The researchers also found that ‘before and after’ levels of the hormone oxytocin – thought to mediate aspects of social cognition – did not change.

Lead researcher Professor Matthias Liechti said: “The effect of many medications and substances of abuse have been tested on various tests of emotion processing and social cognition.

“However, although, many people drink beer and know its effects through personal experience there is surprisingly little scientific data on its effects on the processing of emotional social information.

“We found that drinking a glass of beer helps people see happy faces faster, and enhances concern for positive emotional situations.

“Alcohol also facilitates the viewing of —ual images, consistent with disinhibition, but it does not actually enhance —ual arousal. These effects of alcohol on social cognition likely enhance sociability.”

The findings were presented at the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ECNP) Conference in Vienna, with simultaneous publication in the journal Psychopharmacology.

Moderate use of alcohol can increase hapiness

Professor Wim van den Brink, past Chair of the ECNP Scientific Programme Committee, said of the findings: “This is an interesting study confirming conventional wisdom that alcohol is a social lubricant and that moderate use of alcohol makes people happier, more social and less inhibited when it comes to —ual engagement.

“The — differences in the findings can either be explained by differences in blood alcohol concentration between males and females with the same alcohol intake, differences in tolerance due to differences in previous levels of alcohol consumption or by socio-cultural factors.

“It should also be recognised that different effects of alcohol can be seen according to whether your blood alcohol is increasing or decreasing, and of course how much alcohol you have taken.

“As Shakespeare noted, alcohol-related emotions and cognitions as studied are not always consistent with actual behaviours.”