title: Conditioned tolerance to the effects of alcohol on inhibitory control in humans.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To test whether the repeated consumption of alcohol in a particular environment leads to the emergence of a context-specific conditioned compensatory response (CCR) that can counter alcohol's impairment of inhibitory processes.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty-four participants consumed an alcoholic drink (males: 0.65 g/kg; females: 0.57 g/kg) in one context on three sessions and a matched placebo drink in a different context on three other sessions. At test, participants were split into two groups and consumed a novel alcoholic drink either in the context previously paired with alcohol or the placebo-paired context. On all sessions, participants were tested on two computer-based tasks that measured response inhibition: an affective go/no-go task and a stop-signal task (SST).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Over the conditioning trials, tolerance developed to alcohol's disinhibitory effects on the go/no-go task; moreover, on the test for conditioned responding, performance was less impaired for participants in the alcohol-paired versus the placebo-paired context. No tolerance was evident on the SST, and no CCR.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Repeated consumption of alcohol in a particular environment can lead to the emergence of a context-specific CCR that counters some of alcohol's disinhibitory effects. Therefore, consuming alcohol in an unfamiliar context might produce stronger disinhibitory effects than would be apparent in a familiar drinking environment.
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, UK. p.terry@kingston.ac.uk
authors.forename: Kulbir Singh
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Birak
authors.forename: Suzanne
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Higgs
authors.forename: Philip
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Terry
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000523:psychology*; D002492:Central Nervous System Depressants / Q000494:pharmacology*; D003071:Cognition / Q000187:drug effects; D003213:Conditioning, Psychological; D004361:Drug Tolerance; D004777:Environment; D000431:Ethanol / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007266:Inhibition, Psychological; D008297:Male; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D002492:Central Nervous System Depressants; D000431:Ethanol