Alcohol and the reward value of cigarette smoking

Abstract

People who drink alcohol are more likely to smoke, and experiments have shown that alcohol can increase cigarette smoking. However, it is not clear why alcohol consumption should increase smoking. To address this issue the current experiment looked at the effects of alcohol on a range of behavioural and subjective measures intended to assess the reward value of smoking. These included a preference test carried out after subjects had smoked cigarettes of one colour after consuming alcohol, and cigarettes of another colour after consuming non-alcoholic drinks. In the preference test, subjects were offered the choice of smoking the alcoholic or non-alcoholic drink-paired cigarette. It was hypothesised that if alcohol increased the reward value of smoking, subjects would choose to smoke the alcohol-paired cigarette. Consumption of alcohol increased the length of time people spent smoking, increased the number of puffs taken on each cigarette, and increased the amount of tobacco burnt. There were also strong subjective effects, with subjects looking forward more to smoking after alcohol and reporting greater smoking satisfaction after alcohol. However, subjects did not show a preference for the cigarettes they had smoked after alcohol.