Effect of Instructional and Physiological Variables on Preference for Alcohol

Abstract

This study was designed to investigate the effects of instructions regarding beverage content and alcohol beverage consumption on preference for alcohol. The subjects were 32 male undergraduate nonalcoholic drinkers. Subjects were told they would receive either an alcoholic or a nonalcoholic beverage and did or did not receive an alcoholic priming dose designed to raise their blood alcohol concentration (BAC) to. 06%. After they consumed their drinks, subjects participated in two similar taste-rating tasks in which they ostensibly were required to discriminate between alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages. The task was administered two times, once when the BAC was rising and once when it was descending. Analyses of the beverage consumption data showed no significant effects of instructions, beverage, or direction of the blood alcohol function on preferences for alcohol. Combined with the findings of other studies, these results suggest moderate doses of alcohol have little effect on subsequent drinking by normal drinkers in a nonsocial setting.