Citation

Hardy L, Hogarth L. Exp. Clin. Psychopharmacol. 2017; 25(6): 448-455.

Affiliation

School of Psychology, University of Exeter.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, American Psychological Association)

DOI

10.1037/pha0000155

PMID

29251973

Abstract

This study tested whether a novel concurrent pictorial choice procedure, inspired by animal self-administration models, is sensitive to the motivational effect of negative mood induction on alcohol-seeking in hazardous drinkers. Forty-eight hazardous drinkers (scoring ≥7 on the Alcohol Use Disorders Inventory) recruited from the community completed measures of alcohol dependence, depression, and drinking coping motives. Baseline alcohol-seeking was measured by percent choice to enlarge alcohol- versus food-related thumbnail images in two alternative forced-choice trials. Negative and positive mood was then induced in succession by means of self-referential affective statements and music, and percent alcohol choice was measured after each induction in the same way as baseline. Baseline alcohol choice correlated with alcohol dependence severity, r =.42, p =.003, drinking coping motives (in two questionnaires, r =.33, p =.02 and r =.46, p =.001), and depression symptoms, r =.31, p =.03. Alcohol choice was increased by negative mood over baseline (p <.001, ηp2 =.280), and matched baseline following positive mood (p =.54, ηp2 =.008). The negative mood-induced increase in alcohol choice was not related to gender, alcohol dependence, drinking to cope, or depression symptoms (ps ≥.37). The concurrent pictorial choice measure is a sensitive index of the relative value of alcohol, and provides an accessible experimental model to study negative mood-induced relapse mechanisms in hazardous drinkers. (PsycINFO Database Record

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Language: en