ArticlePsychopharmacology2025
Choice of alcohol over a natural reward: an experimental study in light and heavy social drinkers.
Article in Psychopharmacology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers.
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Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed.
- Stress-coping behavior during predator odor exposure is associated with differences in decision making.Addiction neuroscience · 2026Article
- Recent advances in individual differences in addiction neuroscience in animal models and clinical studies.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2026Article
- Does Reflective Thinking Improve the Ability to Plan in Light and Heavy Drinkers? A Clinical-Experimental Model of Metacognition.Medical science monitor : international medical journal of experimental and clinical research · 2026Article
- Stress-coping behavior during predator odor exposure is associated with differences in decision making.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Anterior Insula Activity during Alcohol and Social Reward Self-Administration and Choice in Male and Female Rats.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2026Article
- Frustration brake failure hypothesis of substance use disorders.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Article
- Considerations for understanding the neurobiology of pathological alcohol choice preference: Commentary on Perini, Karlsson, McIntyre, Heilig-"Neural correlates of choosing alcohol over palatable food reward in humans".Alcohol, clinical & experimental research · 2025Article
- Neural correlates of choosing alcohol over a palatable food reward in humans.Alcohol, clinical & experimental research · 2025Article
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Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
Abstract
RATIONALE &
objectivesA core symptom of alcohol use disorder (AUD) is a progressively increased choice of alcohol over alternative rewards despite negative consequences. Here, we investigated choice between personalized alcohol vs. natural rewards in a laboratory setting, and compared this behavior between non-treatment-seeking heavy drinkers and light social drinkers.
methods30 light social drinkers (15 men drinking < 15 drinks/week and 15 women drinking < 10 drinks/week) and 30 heavy, non-treatment-seeking drinkers (drinking more than these levels; 15 women). In the Concurrent Choice Alcohol Food (CCAF) task, participants chose between individually tailored images of alcohol and snack rewards and collected points towards the respective reward. To assess cost sensitivity, points associated to the images varied so that they favored alcohol or snack, or were equal, creating three relative point levels.
resultsChoice preference for alcohol was strongly correlated with Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (AUDIT) scores, supporting the external validity of the choice procedure. Compared to light drinkers, heavy drinkers showed increased choice preference for alcohol, as indicated by a between-group difference in points of subjective equality, a metric that quantifies the relative point level at which alcohol and snacks were equally likely to be chosen. In both groups, choice preference strongly depended on the relative point level of alcohol compared to snacks, suggesting that responding for alcohol in heavy drinkers was sensitive to costs.
conclusionsOur results replicate previous findings of a relationship between self-reported alcohol use and choice preference for alcohol. We also found that choice behavior was strongly dependent on relative cost of alcohol in both groups, although price sensitivity was lower in heavy compared to light drinkers. An increased choice preference for alcohol in heavy drinkers suggests that they attribute a higher relative reinforcing value to alcohol compared to natural rewards.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.