Intoxication in a Rewarding Environment as a Risk Factor for Alcohol Misuse

University Of Kentucky, Lexington KY

Investigators

Linked publications & trials

Abstract

? DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): There is evidence for the role of the environment on responses to alcohol in terms of behavioral functioning. However, experiencing a history of reward while intoxicated on the appetitive properties of alcohol is a relatively unexplored area of study. Such an experience could generalize to the intoxicated state and increase the rewarding properties of alcohol. Theory also suggests that enhanced appetitive properties of alcohol resulting from such a history could increase disinhibition in the presence of alcohol cues. Different environmental factors present during drinking that tend to be reinforcing in themselves, such as socializing with friends in a bar setting. Although there is empirical evidence that situational factors alter subjective responses to alcohol, no study has assessed the transfer of these changes on a prospective drinking episode. It is also unknown whether a rewarding history while intoxicated affects the response to alcohol cues. Further, manipulations have been brief and have confounded positive experiences and socialization, for example. This study will test the general working hypothesis that a rewarding history while intoxicated will increase the appetitive effects that drinkers attribute to alcohol and to alcohol cues. To this end, subjects wil play a rewarding game across the BAC curve following a low dose of alcohol and will be later tested on various measures following an acute dose of alcohol. 3 key indicators of the rewarding properties of alcohol will be used to examine how a rewarding experience while mildly intoxicated affects behavior on a later drinking occasion. That a correlation exists between my implicit measure of the appetitive properties of alcohol cues and disruption of behavioral control suggests that the resultant increase in the rewarding properties of alcohol, owing to a rewarding experience while intoxicated, may increase alcohol cue-induced disinhibition in response to an acute dose of alcohol. This will be tested using two disinhibition tasks. One will measure alcohol-cue-induced disinhibition, and the second will measure disinhibition in the absence of alcohol cues. A rewarding experience while mildly intoxicated should selectively increase alcohol-cue-induced disinhibition. Results of this research would have important implications for the growing interest in interventions aimed reducing drinking by attentional-retraining and inhibitory control exercises. Such approaches do not consider the role of the environment on the rewarding properties of alcohol and alcohol cues and this may contribute why they fail to reduce drinking long-term. As such, the effectiveness of behavioral interventions may increase when training occurs in multiple environments, especially in those where there was a prior history of reward while intoxicated. This is because a rewarding history while intoxicated may enhance the appetitive responses to alcohol and result in an increase in alcohol-cue-induced disinhibition. As such, these results could inform training aimed at attenuating alcohol-cue-induced disinhibition, a key indicator of abuse potential.