Alcoholics and high-low sensory input: a pilot study.

It is hypothesized that alcoholics possess a perceptual-neurophysiological sensitivity which renders them vulnerable to the effects of information or stimulus overload: the resort to alcohol, therefore, may represent an adaptive attempt to restore physiologic homeostasis through the pharmacologic "dampening" properties of this drug. Twelve alcoholic subjects were assigned to three different levels of audio-visual sensory stimulation (no, medium, high) and three different doses of alcohol (placebo, low, high) according to a balanced incomplete block design. The results indicated trend level and significant interactions between alcohol and sensory level effects on craving intensity and systolic blood pressure, respectively, as well as a number of other intriguing findings. Should the findings of this pilot study be replicated, they will have important implications for the understanding of alcoholism.