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Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2016 Dec;111(12):2157-2165.
doi: 10.1111/add.13540. Epub 2016 Sep 12.

Alcohol-induced place conditioning in moderate social drinkers

Emma Childs  1 , Harriet de Wit  2
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Alcohol-induced place conditioning in moderate social drinkers

Emma Childs et al. Addiction. 2016 Dec.

Abstract

Aims: To test whether non-dependent drinkers show place preference for a location paired with alcohol, and to test if the amount of time spent in the alcohol-paired location is related to self-reported subjective alcohol effects experienced in that environment.

Design: Two groups of subjects completed six conditioning sessions: three with alcohol (0.8 g/kg) and three without alcohol. Individuals were assigned randomly to two groups, paired and unpaired, in a 2 : 1 ratio. The paired group (n = 78) received alcohol in one testing room and no-alcohol in another testing room (biased assignment). The unpaired group (n = 30) received alcohol and no-alcohol in each testing room.

Setting: Human Behavioral Pharmacology Laboratory, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA (single site).

Participants: Healthy male and female social drinkers (n = 108) aged 21-40 years participated in the study (consisting of 10 separate laboratory visits) between March 2012 and August 2014 (an average of 36 separate subject visits per month).

Measurements: The primary outcome measure was the pre- to post-conditioning change in the percentage of time spent in the least preferred room (obtained during drug-free exploration tests conducted at separate visits before and after the six conditioning sessions were completed). Secondary measures included self-reported subjective mood and drug effects obtained during the conditioning sessions.

Findings: The groups differed in the change in the percentage of time spent in the initially least preferred room, from pre- to post-conditioning; paired group = 11.0%, unpaired group = -1.4%, mean difference = 12.4%, 95% confidence interval = 1.9-23.0, P = 0.02. The change in the percentage of time spent in the least-preferred room was related to the self-reported sedative effects of alcohol during conditioning sessions among paired group participants only.

Conclusions: Non-dependent consumers of alcohol appear to develop a behavioral preference for locations paired with alcohol consumption, more so for those who experience sedative effects from alcohol in those locations.

Keywords: Alcohol; behavior; conditioned place preference; sedation; social drinkers; subjective effects.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Interests This work was funded by grants awarded to Dr. Childs by ABMRF: The Alcohol Research Foundation (Pilot Grant award) and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (R21AA020964). The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Timeline of procedures during conditioning sessions.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Change in self-reported subjective effects of alcohol (ALC) and no alcohol (NoALC) across conditioning sessions. Data represent mean±SEM subjective response across 3 separate ALC and NoALC sessions (left-hand axis). The shaded area represents mean change in breath alcohol concentration (BrAC, right-hand axis) across the 3 ALC sessions. The lined area represents the time spent in the conditioning room, and filled bars represent drinking periods.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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