Effect of an Ounce of Vodka on Alcoholics' Desire for Alcohol

Differentiating the Contribution of Pharmacological from Alcohol Expectancy Effects to Changes in Subjective Response and Priming Over Successive Drinks

“…The importance of alcohol's pharmacological effects on motivation to drink is supported by previous work which found that alcohol, but not placebo, increased alcohol urge and primed drinking behavior in social drinkers (Duka et al., ; Rose and Duka, ). However, a number of balanced placebo design studies have found that the belief that one has consumed alcohol is more influential on alcohol‐related behavior than actual alcohol consumption in dependent populations (Engle and Williams, ; Marlatt et al., ). The discrepancies across studies may reflect differences across participant populations; a greater involvement with alcohol in dependent drinkers may result in stronger expectancies which have a greater influence on behavior.…”

Conditioned learning in alcohol dependence: implications for cue exposure treatment

“…An increase in desire for alcohol in alcoholics receiving priming doses of alcohol has been consistently observed (Engle & Williams, 1972;Hodgson et al, 1979;Rankin et al, 1979;Stockwell et al, 1982;Kaplan et al, 1983;Kaplan et al, 1984;Laberg, 1986;Laberg & Ellertsen, 1987), particularly when the subjects believed that they had consumed alcohol Kaplan et al, 1983;Kaplan et al, 1985;Laberg, 1986).…”

“…Several investigators employing a priming dose paradigm have been interested in the effects of an initial dose of alcohol on subsequent drinking behaviour in the experimental setting. In Engle & Williams' (1972) study, for example, subjects were instructed that alcohol was obtainable in another part of the hospital and were given detailed instructions on how to obtain it. Only one subject, however, asked for further alcohol, interestingly a subject who had been told that he had been given alcohol but in fact had received placebo.…”

Environmental Cues, Alcohol Seeking, and Consumption in Baboons: Effects of Response Requirement and Duration of Alcohol Abstinence

“…Such increases in cue reactivity in alcohol-dependent subjects appear to be specific for alcohol-related stimuli, as subjective measures like craving are not elicited by neutral stimuli (e.g., cups containing a nonalcoholic beverage or cedar chips) (Greeley et al, 1993;Kaplan et al, 1985;Monti et al, 1987;Pomerleau et al, 1983). However, reactivity to alcohol-related cues can be increased or decreased depending on the subject's expectations of access to alcohol (Berg et al, 1981;Engle and Williams, 1972;Kaplan et al, 1983Kaplan et al, , 1984Marlatt et al, 1973) and availability of alcohol (Turkkan et al, 1989b). Although the phenomenon of cue reactivity has been well established, the influence of alcohol-related cues on alcohol drinking and relapse remains unclear (for reviews, see Drobes, 2002;Monti et al, 2000).…”