The current data largely supported this idea. Unlike participants in the other groups, those who consumed alcohol experienced a significant decrease in NA postdrinking (relative to baseline). Importantly, given that at relatively high doses like the one used here alcohol appears to directly affect the neurocircuitry of emotion (see Donohue, Curtin, Patrick, & Lang, 2007; Moberg & Curtin, 2009), this effect likely was not mediated by higher-order cognitive processes as has been reported in previous studies using lower doses (see Curtin et al., 2001; Lang, Patrick, & Stritzke, 1999). Critically, this change in NA was significantly associated with ERN amplitude and was a significant mediator of the effect of beverage on the ERN. Perhaps most importantly, the structural equation model analyses indicated an important role for NA change in understanding beverage effects on posterror behavioral adjustment. Specifically, the effect of alcohol on impaired posterror adjustment was mediated independently by both reduction in the ERN and by the relationship between NA change and the ERN, considering that the multiply mediated path contributed significantly to explaining the variance in posterror adjustment. However,
