Alcohol-related words are distracting to both alcohol abusers and non-abusers in the Stroop colour-naming task

Aim. To compare alcohol abusers' and non-abusers' distraction for alcohol-related and emotional words, controlling for emotional valence of those words. Design and method. The experiment compared 20 alcohol abusers and 20 non-abusers in terms of performance on a computerized Stroop colour-naming test using alcohol-related and non-alcohol-related words. Findings. Abusers rated the alcohol stimuli greater in emotional valence than the emotional stimuli. Therefore, differences in emotional-valence ratings between the two groups were statistically controlled. Against expectation, both alcohol abusers and non-abusers were more distracted by alcohol stimuli than by positive or negative emotional stimuli. Conclusions. The results indicate that alcohol words are distracting for drinkers in general, and this may indicate a high level of salience for these kinds of stimuli.