Study finds aroma of alcohol ‘inhibits’ self-control

New research has revealed that the smell of alcohol makes it harder for people to control their behaviour.

The smell of alcohol interfered with participants ability to refrain from a particular behaviour

Researchers at Lancashire’s Edge Hill University found that during a computer-based study the smell of alcohol interfered with people’s ability to refrain from a particular behaviour.

Participants wore face masks that were pre-treated with either alcohol or a non-alcoholic citrus solution.

They were then presented with two picture sets – one containing the alphabet, the other made up of bar-related images – and were asked to press a button when either the letter K or a picture of a beer bottle appeared on their screen.

The scientists measured the amount of times the participants incorrectly pressed a button, raising a ‘false alarm’, which indicated a decrease in the person’s ability to inhibit their behaviour.

The number of false alarms were “significantly higher” in participants who were wearing the alcohol treated mask, and the effect was the same for both alcohol and non-alcohol-related visual cues.

A statement from the study reads: “The current findings support the findings of previous research that exposure to alcohol-related stimuli results in reduced accuracy in tasks requiring inhibitory control.

“Overall, this research offers an original insight into the importance of acknowledging olfactory alcohol cues in developing a comprehensive understanding of alcohol-related behaviour. Context-related reductions in inhibitory control may lead to increases in consumption, or to relapse in abstinence users”

The study, called Smells like inhibition: The effects of olfactory and visual alcohol cues on inhibitory control was published in the journal Psychopharmacology.