Acute use of alcohol is related to increased risk for suicide. However, our understanding of
this problem is hindered by the lack of experimental tests of conditions underlying the
alcohol use-suicide relationship. The attention allocation model (AAM) proposes that alcohol
intoxication limits individuals' focus to salient cues in their environment. Thus, acute use
of alcohol (AUA) during negative mood states may cause people to focus their attention
towards suicide-related cues in their environment, thus increasing their risk for suicide
while intoxicated. The proposed pilot study tests the AAM by exploring the combined effects
of AUA, mood, and alcohol expectancies on attentional bias towards suicide-related cues. The
proposed study will explore the combined impact of AUA and negative mood on attentional bias
towards suicide in a sample of community adults. The investigators will further explore
whether individual differences in alcohol expectancies influence these associations. The
investigators will conduct a 2 by 2 (alcohol/placebo by negative mood/positive mood),
between-subjects experiment involving alcohol administration, a well-established mood
induction paradigm, and a performance-based dependent measure of attention towards
suicide-related cues. The investigators expect that individuals in the negative mood-alcohol
condition to show the greatest suicide-related attentional bias. The investigators expect
that alcohol expectancies related to suicide will strengthen this association, and that
positive mood alcohol expectancies will weaken this association. This pilot study will
provide an initial test of the feasibility of this project and the hypotheses. This study
will form the basis for a larger scale study able to test the effects.