Alcohol effects on inhibitory and activational response strategies in the acquisition of alcohol and other reinforcers: Priming the motivation to drink

Objective: Low doses of alcohol can increase (i.e., prime) operant respondi ng for alcohol in social drinkers. The present study tested the degree to w hich alcohol increased subjects' responding for the drug by biasing their r eward-acquisition strategies in favor of response activation, and away from inhibitory responding. Method: Thirty-two social drinkers received either a priming dose of alcohol (0.55 g/kg) or a placebo, prior to performing a s top-signal task to earn their choice of alcoholic drinks or alternative mon etary reinforcers. Results: When alternative monetary reinforcement was of low value, alcohol was chosen more often by subjects who received the primi ng dose versus those who received the placebo. The priming dose also affect ed reward-acquisition strategies. Subjects who received the priming dose ob tained reinforcers by increased response activation and reduced response in hibition. By contrast, those who received the placebo obtained reinforcers via a combination of activational and inhibitory responding. Conclusions: T he results of this study show that alcohol might affect cognitive processes involved in drug reinforcement. By combining traditional operant measures of drug reinforcement with tasks that assess cognitive processes, this rese arch offers a promising new strategy to study the role of cognitive process es in the abuse potential of a wide range of drugs.