title: Acquisition of Conditioned Responses to a Novel Alcohol-Paired Cue in Social Drinkers.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study examined the acquisition of conditioning between novel stimuli and single doses of alcohol in social drinkers. Environmental stimuli present during the consumption of alcohol or other drugs come to elicit conditioned responses that subsequently increase drug seeking. However, relatively few studies have examined the process of acquisition of these conditioned drug responses in human subjects.
  
  
  METHODS
  We used a procedure previously developed to study acquisition of conditioned responses to a methamphetamine-associated cue. In the present study we applied the paradigm to alcohol, pairing de novo neutral cues with alcohol in social drinkers (N = 36). We obtained measures of self-report, behavioral preference, emotional reactivity (assessed using facial electromyography), and attention to specific cues paired with administration of 0.6 g/kg 95% absolute alcohol or placebo.
  
  
  RESULTS
  After conditioning, participants showed an increase in attention toward the alcohol-paired cue, and this increase was associated with ratings of liking the alcohol-containing beverage during the conditioning sessions. In contrast to our previous findings with methamphetamine, the alcohol-paired cue did not elicit changes in emotional reactivity (measured by facial electromyography) or behavioral preference.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study extends our previous findings with a stimulant drug to alcohol and highlights possible similarities and differences in conditioning with different classes of drugs. Conditioning with alcohol was less robust than with methamphetamine, but in both cases the conditioning that did occur was related to positive subjective drug response.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois.|Center for Social and Affective Neuroscience, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden.
authors.forename: Leah M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Mayo
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois.
authors.forename: Harriet
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: de Wit
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000523:psychology*; D000434:Alcoholic Beverages; D001288:Attention / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D003213:Conditioning, Psychological / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D003463:Cues; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D000431:Ethanol / Q000008:administration & dosage; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008694:Methamphetamine / Q000008:administration & dosage; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D000431:Ethanol; D008694:Methamphetamine