Alcohol preload and automatic alcohol motivation: Examining the causes of dyscont

描述（由申请人提供）：酒精使用的破坏性影响已被充分证明。酒精与杀人、自杀、机动车碰撞、心脏病和肝病、癌症、医疗费用增加、无家可归和工人生产率下降等问题有关。尽管与大量饮酒相关的成本很高，但在过去十年中，高危饮酒行为有所增加。为什么个人会参与有害的酒精消费？虽然有些人可能会故意喝到伤害他们的程度，但其他人这样做是因为自我控制能力受损。控制障碍——尽管有意识地想这样做，但难以控制物质使用——是物质使用障碍的一个决定性因素。鉴于酒精使用失控的个人和社会成本，增加我们对饮酒失控可能发生的背景和支持酒精控制失控的心理过程的理解是至关重要的。在拟议的项目中，高危饮酒者将被招募来检查启动剂量的酒精和自动饮酒动机对饮酒失调的影响。参与者将通过完成自动酒精接近关联的基线反应时间测量开始研究。然后，参与者将接受一剂酒精，以达到呼气酒精水平。或等量的安慰剂饮料经过一段短暂的吸收期后，参与者将第二次自动评估与酒精有关的联想，然后他们将完成一项味觉测试，在20分钟内，他们将喝下三种啤酒，并根据一些形容词对它们进行评级。我们预测酒精启动剂量（与安慰剂相比）将导致在味觉测试中消耗更多的啤酒。我们还预测，酒精启动剂量对味觉测试中消费的影响将通过酒精启动剂量增加自动酒精接近关联强度的效应来调节。积极的研究结果将提供重要的贡献，以了解心理过程，调解强迫性，失控的酒精消费。此外，这些知识将在筛查高危饮酒者进行早期干预、预测干预后的复发以及作为干预发展的标准方面具有临床效用。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The destructive impact of alcohol use has been well-documented. Alcohol is involved in problems such as homicides, suicides, motor vehicle crashes, heart and liver disease, cancer, increased health care costs, homelessness and decreased worker productivity. Despite the costs associated with heavy alcohol use, at-risk drinking behavior has increased over the past decade. Why do individuals engage in harmful alcohol consumption? Though some may deliberately and intentionally drink at levels that cause them harm, others do so because of impaired self-control. Dyscontrol - the difficulty in refraining from substance use despite conscious intentions to do so - is a defining element of substance use disorders. Given the personal and societal costs of dyscontrolled alcohol use, it is crucial to increase our understanding of the contexts in which dyscontrolled drinking is likely to take place and the psychological processes that support alcohol dyscontrol. In the proposed project, at-risk drinkers will be recruited to examine the effects of a priming dose of alcohol and automatic alcohol motivation on dyscontrolled drinking. Participants will begin the study by completing a baseline reaction time measure of automatic alcohol-approach associations. Participants will then receive either a priming dose of alcohol to reach a breath alcohol level of .05 or an equivalent amount of placebo beverage. After a short absorption period, automatic alcohol-approach associations will be assessed for a second time and then participants will complete a taste-test in which they drink and rate three beers on a number of adjectives for 20 minutes. We predict that the alcohol priming dose (compared to placebo) will lead to greater amount of beer consumed in the taste-test. We also predict that the influence of the alcohol priming dose on consumption in the taste-test will be mediated by the effects of the alcohol priming dose on increasing the strength of automatic alcohol-approach associations. Positive study results will provide important contributions to understanding the psychological processes that mediate compulsive, dyscontrolled alcohol consumption. Additionally, this knowledge will have clinical utility in the screening of at-risk drinkers for early intervention, in predicting relapse after an intervention, and in being used as a criterion for intervention development. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Alcohol is involved in more than 100,000 deaths per year in the United States and cost the economy $167 billion in 1995 and is involved in problems such as homicides, suicides, motor vehicle crashes, heart and liver disease, cancer, increased health care costs, homelessness and decreased worker productivity. The purpose of this research is to improve our understanding of the psychological processes that underlie and support dyscontrolled alcohol use. This novel approach to dyscontrolled drinking may have clinical utility in predicting relapse after an intervention and in being used as a criterion for intervention development.