Hangover Research

Participant information sheet – Associations between cognition and hangover symptomology.

I would like to invite you to take part in a research study. Before you decide you need to understand why the research is being done and what it would involve for you. Please take time to read the following information carefully. Ask questions if anything you read is not clear or would like more information. Please take at least 24 hours to decide whether or not to take part.

What is the purpose of this study?

Researchers in the directorate of Psychology and Sport are investigating how alcohol hangover is related to emotional responsiveness and performance. This investigation has been designed in order to examine how people respond to different symptoms of hangover and their effect on performance in information processing tasks.

Why have I been invited?

You are a healthy adult aged 18 – 40 years old, resident in the UK, and would consider yourself to be a regular drinker. You have access to a computer, webcam, and microphone.

You are not eligible to take part in this investigation if:

  • You are aged less than 18, or over 40 years.
  • You have a body mass index of less than 18.5, or more than 30.
  • You have a history of; heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, anxiety, depression, substance abuse issues, or other conditions affecting the liver.
  • You have a history of chronic, somatic, neurological or psychological conditions.
  • You take medication affecting the central nervous system, kidney, or liver.
  • You are a pregnant or lactating female, or there is any chance that you may be pregnant.
  • You do not drink alcohol at least once a month on average.

Do I have to take part?

Your participation in this study is entirely voluntary. If you decide to take part, you will have the opportunity to clarify any questions you may have about the investigation with the researcher. You will then be asked to sign a consent form confirming your agreement to take part in the study. You are free to withdraw from this study at any time, without having to provide a reason.

If you are a student at the University of Salford, Your decision to take part or not take part in this study will in no way affect your academic studies.

This investigation will involve the consumption of alcohol, with the expectation that participants will experience a hangover following the alcohol consumption. Participants should ensure that participation in the investigation will not compromise their ability to complete necessary tasks. Students should ensure that the investigation will not interfere with their studies or course requirements (e.g. exams).

What will happen to me if I take part?

In this investigation, we will be asking you to complete a number of cognitive tasks online, both whilst sober (not-hungover), and hungover. In order to induce the hangover state, we will be asking you to consume a specified amount of alcohol (to be provided) over the course of a 2 hour digital meeting, which may be completed alongside other participants. In total we would expect this investigation to require approximately 4 hours of participant time to complete.

The investigation will consist of 4 stages:

  1. Screening:

The screening session will consist of a 30 minute digital one-to-one meeting, hosted in Microsoft teams. This screening session will be used to ensure that your engagement with this investigation does not present any unnecessary risk, and will require you to answer a number of questions about yourself (such as your weight and height) as well as questions about your alcohol consumption. You will need access to a computer with a webcam and microphone for this session.

You will also need to provide proof of identity during this session, so will require a form of photographic ID to be available during the screening interview.

At the end of the screening session you will be informed if you are eligible for the study. If you are eligible, then you will be informed of how much alcohol you will be expected to drink as part of the investigation and information on continuing the investigation will be provided. You will be asked to book a date to complete the ‘consumption session’, when you will be asked to consume the alcohol for the investigation. You should ensure that participation in the consumption session will not interfere with any essential activities, either on the evening of consumption or the following day, when you are highly likely to be hungover. If you are not eligible for the study then you will be informed of this. Following the screening session, eligible participants will be sent an information pack containing the study materials as well as instructions.

Screening sessions will be recorded and stored securely for a period of 3 years. Recordings will only be used for the purposes of; recording participant consent, verifying participant identity, and verifying procedure, if necessary.

  1. Testing session 1.

Following the screening you will be provided with a link to the first set of online performance tasks, hosted on the Gorilla.sc platform. You will be asked to complete these tests between 7am and 9am on the day that you will be completing the consumption session, and the tasks should take no longer than 40 minutes to complete. Instructions for the performance tasks will be provided once you access the link to the session, and you will be given an opportunity to practice each task to ensure you understand it.

  1. Consumption session

Participants will either be mailed the drinks required for this session via a recorded postal service with age verification, or will be able to collect the drinks from the researcher by appointment. Drinks will consist of a mixture of Smirnoff vodka and Sainsbury’s diet lemonade.

Participants will be asked to consume 1.5g of alcohol per litre of their total body water, calculated according to their gender, height, and weight.

For example:

Male, 178cm, 84Kg – would be asked to consume a total of 117mL of alcohol (equivalent to 293mL of Vodka). This is roughly equivalent to 12 ‘shots’ (or 12 standard units).

Male, 170cm, 65Kg – would be asked to consume a total of 98mL of alcohol (equivalent to 244mL of Vodka). This is roughly equivalent to 10 ‘shots’ (or 10 standard units).

Female, 164cm, 69Kg – would be asked to consume a total of 78mL of alcohol (equivalent to 196mL of Vodka). This is roughly equivalent to 8 ‘shots’ (or 8 standard units).

Female, 155cm, 55Kg – would be asked to consume a total of 68mL of alcohol (equivalent to 170mL of Vodka). This is roughly the equivalent of 7 ‘shots’ (or 7 standard units).

You should be aware that it is likely you will be asked to drink an amount that would meet the definition of ‘binge’ drinking, and UK government guidelines recommend you drink no more than 14 units of alcohol per week, spread across 3 occasions.

Participants consuming this quantity of alcohol will have minimal chance of exceeding a blood alcohol concentration of 0.15g%. Blood alcohol concentrations, assuming guidance is followed, are expected to reach between 0.12g% and 0.13g%. In comparison, the legal limit for drunk driving in the UK is 0.08g%, so the quantities of alcohol involved in this investigation would be expected to make you feel drunk.

Participants will be asked to confirm their understanding that the University of Salford cannot be held responsible for any adverse effects due to participant’s or third parties behaviour undertaken during their engagement with the investigation.

The consumption session will consist of a 2 and a quarter hour online meeting (8 – 10.15pm), hosted in Microsoft Teams. Initially a researcher will confirm the requirements of the session as well as your consent to continue. A researcher and trained first aider will also be present during this session to answer questions and address any adverse events that may occur as a result of the alcohol consumption. Participants will be asked to keep their webcams on during this session for safety reasons, should attend having eaten a full meal, and should cease drinking once the session is complete.

A movie will be provided during the session for entertainment (streamed by the researcher).

At the end of the consumption session the researcher will confirm with all participants that they are not in distress. Participants will be expected to cease drinking and go to bed following the consumption session, both to ensure safety and prevent issues with testing.

  1. Testing session 2

The second testing session will be completed on the morning following the consumption session, between 7am and 9am, and will consist of the same performance tasks as the first testing session, hosted on the Gorilla.sc platform. A link to this session will be provided to participants via email, with instructions on when to complete the tasks. Instructions will also be clarified at the beginning of the consumption session. These tasks should take no more than 40 minutes to complete.

Participants that choose to withdraw after completing the consumption session but before completing the second testing session will still be asked to complete a virtual ‘check-in’ before 9am on the day following the consumption session to confirm their safety.

  • Participant experience survey

The day following the second testing session you will be asked to complete a short (10 minute) online survey addressing your experience of participating in the investigation. 

Expenses and repayments?

No payments or incentives are being offered for participation in this investigation.

What are the possible disadvantages and risks of taking part?

Since this investigation will require you to drink an amount of alcohol likely to induce the hangover state, there is a risk of adverse events occurring during the consumption of this alcohol. Though the eligibility criteria for this study have been designed in order to minimise the risk of adverse events, participants may still experience discomfort during alcohol consumption, and would be expected to inform the researcher if at any point they felt unable to continue. Participants that don’t complete the drinking session will be asked to remain online until the researcher is satisfied they are safe. The researcher may also ask you to stop drinking during the consumption session if they have concerns for your safety.

This investigation will also require participants to engage with the experience of hangover itself, a collection of negative physical and mental symptoms that occur following a single alcohol consumption session. This will therefore require participants to endure some discomfort associated with the experience, and may influence the participants ability to engage in tasks on the day following the alcohol consumption. Participants would therefore be expected to avoid any activities on the day following the consumption session, since hangover effects may impact on their ability to perform tasks (e.g. driving) safely.

What are the possible benefits of taking part?

It cannot be promised that participation in this investigation will lead to benefits for you, however taking part may help to give you a greater understanding of the research process. Findings from this research will improve our understanding of the alcohol hangover phenomenon and direct future research examining the links between alcohol hangover and drinking behaviour.

What if there is a problem?

If you have a concern about any aspect of this study, you should ask to speak to the researcher who will do their best to answer any questions you may have (please see ‘Further information and contact details’ below). If you remain unhappy and wish to complain formally, you can do this by contacting the Research Centre Manager:

Andrew Clark (Chair of the Health Research Ethics Panel),

Room L517a, Allerton Building, University of Salford, M6 6PU

(Phone: 0161-2954209; Email: a.clark@salford.ac.uk). 

Will my taking part in the study be kept confidential?

All the data collected from you will remain confidential. Your data will only be referred to by a participant number. Data will be anonymised post-collection for public sharing. Only the research team will have access to your name and email address. Recordings of screening sessions will only be accessible to the research team, and will only be used for the purposes of identity and age verification during participation, as well as providing a record of participant consent.

All collected data will be stored on encrypted drives on password-protected computers (in the case of electronic data), or within a locked cupboard in a locked office (in the case of ‘pen and paper’ data).

Data will be stored for a minimum of three years.

What will happen if I don’t carry on with the study?

If you choose to withdraw from the study, or if you wish to remove your data from the study at any point, you can contact the researcher with your email address, and all data collected from you, as well as any other details, will be removed from all study files and destroyed, where it is possible to do so (for example, data may not be removed from already anonymised datasets).

Participants that choose to withdraw between the consumption session (where alcohol will be consumed) and the second testing session the morning after the consumption session, will still be asked to access the testing website to ‘check-in’ and confirm their safety. Participants will at this point have a chance to withdraw before completing the second testing session.

What will happen to the results of the research study?

Results from this investigation will be collated in an article for publication in a research journal, included within the Doctoral thesis of the lead researcher, and may be submitted for presentation at relevant conferences. Participants that choose to take part in the investigation will be able to opt-in to a research newsletter, to be disseminated once data from the investigation has been analysed.

Further information and contact details.

If you would like further information about the study or would like to volunteer to participate, please contact:

Sam Royle,

L826 Allerton Building,

University of Salford

w.s.s.royle@salford.ac.uk

Signing up for the investigation.

If you are interested in participating in this investigation, you can sign up for a screening interview here, or contact the lead researcher using the details above. Thank you.