Effects of Alcohol and D-Amphetamine upon Mood and Volition

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Abstract
The purpose was to measure drug effects upon mood self-ratings and upon volitional outcomes presumably related to changes in mood. Alcohol, d-amphetamine and placebo were administered, separately and in combination, to 70 male volunteers who served as their own controls. Measures of volitional behavior included gambling for money, and verbal production on assigned topics. Mood self-ratings were interspersed. Alcohol increased the number of maximum bets but did not significantly increase average bet size or affect verbal production. D-amphetamine significantly increased verbal production but not risk-taking. There was no evidence of drug interaction in either of these measures of volitional behavior. However, there were interesting combinatorial effects upon the various mood dimensions, where the combination of alcohol and d-amphetamine produced additive, non-additive and supra-additive effects. As in some previous studies, drug effects on the mood self-ratings were found to be useful but uncertain predictors of plausibly relevant volitional behaviors.