Researchers were interested in studying the effects of a distracting task on aggressive behavior of subjects who had consumed a significant amount of alcohol. It is well known that alcohol often leads to aggressive behavior, but why should this be? Giangcola and Corman (2007) began by assuming that alcohol facilitated aggression by focusing attention on more salient provocative cues rather than on less salient inhibitory ones. They reasoned that if they presented their subjects with a distracting task, attention would be focused on the task rather than on provocative cues, thus limiting aggression. However, they also reasoned that if the task became too complex, its distracting effects would disappear, and aggression would take over. They asked their subjects to consume alcohol in an amount that raised their average blood alcohol level to about .01%. Subjects then participated in a task that required them to remember the order of the task were varied by manipulating the number of squares that subjects had to keep in memory. Subjects then participated in a task that required them to remember the order in which squaredina 3 X 3 matrix were illuminated. The attentional demands of the task were varied by manipulating the number of squared that subjects had to keep in memory. Subjects played against fictitious opponent who either delivered mild shocks to the subject or received mild shocks from the subject, dependent on supposed task performance (In fact, there was no opponent, and the shocks that the subjects received had nothing to do with their performance). The dependent variable (aggression) was based on the severity and duration of shocks that subjects delivered to opponents when they had the opportunity. 1 1 -1.2 -2 2 1.2 7 -3 1.3 2 1.3 1 -7 5 1