Alcohol Consumption Primes Automatic Alcohol-Approach Associations

OBJECTIVE: There is increasing evidence that automatic mental processes play a role in problematic alcohol use. Although previous research has shown that alcohol consumption can prime alcohol-seeking behavior in animals and humans, little research has examined whether alcohol consumption activates automatic alcohol-related cognitions. The current study was designed to examine the effects of alcohol consumption on the activation of automatic alcohol motivation as measured by a reaction time task. METHOD: Eighty-five at-risk drinkers participated in the study, which began with a baseline measure of automatic alcohol motivation, after which participants completed a taste-test in which they could consume as much beer as they liked for 10 minutes. Following an absorption period, participants completed the measure of automatic alcohol motivation for a second time. RESULTS: A partial correlation analysis indicated that amount of alcohol consumed predicted stronger automatic alcohol motivation when controlling for the baseline level of automatic alcohol motivation. CONCLUSION: The findings suggest that alcohol consumption may prime the automatic mental processes that have been shown to contribute to problematic alcohol use.