Alcohol and common ground: The effects of intoxication on linguistic markers of shared understanding during social exchange.

OBJECTIVE: Most alcohol consumption takes place in social contexts, and the belief that alcohol enhances social interactions has been identified as among the more robust predictors of alcohol use disorder (AUD) development. Yet, we know little of how alcohol affects mental representations of others-what we share and do not share-nor the extent to which intoxication might impact the development of shared understanding (i.e., common ground) between interaction partners. Employing a randomized experimental design and objective linguistic outcome measures, we present two studies examining the impact of alcohol consumption on the development and use of common ground. METHOD: In Study 1, groups of strangers or friends were administered either alcohol (target Breath Alcohol Content = .08%) or a control beverage, following which they completed a task requiring them to develop a shared language to describe ambiguous images and then describe those images to either a knowledgeable or a naïve partner. The same procedures were completed in Study 2 using a within-subjects alcohol administration design and all-stranger groups. RESULTS: Study 1 findings did not reach significance but suggested that alcohol may facilitate common ground development selectively among stranger groups. This effect emerged as significant in the context of the within-subjects design of Study 2, b = -0.19, p = .007, with participants demonstrating greater facility in establishing common ground during alcohol versus control sessions. CONCLUSIONS: Results suggest that alcohol facilitates the development of shared linguistic understanding in novel social spaces, indicating common ground as one potential mechanism to consider in our broader examination of alcohol reinforcement and AUD etiology. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Characterizing the Undergraduate Neuroscience Major in the U.S.: An Examination of Course Requirements and Institution-Program Associations.

Neuroscience is a rapidly expanding field, and many colleges and universities throughout the country are implementing new neuroscience degree programs. Despite the field's growth and popularity, little data exists on the structural character of current undergraduate neuroscience programs. We collected and examined comprehensive data on existing undergraduate neuroscience programs, including academic major requirements and institution characteristics such as size, financial resources, and research opportunities. Thirty-one variables covering information about course requirements, department characteristics, financial resources, and institution characteristics were collected from 118 colleges and universities in the United States that offer a major titled "neuroscience" or "neural sciences." Data was collected from publicly available sources (online databases, institutions' neuroscience program websites) and then analyzed to define the average curriculum and identify associations between institution and program characteristics. Our results suggest that the average undergraduate neuroscience major requires 3 chemistry, 3 biology, 3 laboratory, 2-3 neuroscience, 1 physics, 1 math, and 2 psychology courses, suggesting that most neuroscience programs emphasize the natural sciences over the social sciences. Additionally, while 98% of institutions in our database offer research opportunities, only 31% required majors to perform research. Of note, 70% of institutions offering a neuroscience major do not have a neuroscience department, suggesting that most institutions offer neuroscience as an interdisciplinary major spanning several departments. Finally, smaller liberal arts colleges account for the majority of institutions offering a neuroscience major. Overall, these findings may be useful for informing groups interested in undergraduate neuroscience training, including institutions looking to improve or establish programs, students wanting to major in neuroscience and employers hiring neuroscience graduates.