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Updated: Jun 29, 2026

A Procedure to Observe Context-induced Renewal of Pavlovian-conditioned Alcohol-seeking Behavior in Rats
Published on: September 19, 2014
Alcohol consumption primes automatic alcohol-approach associations
Suzan R Farris1, Brian D Ostafin
1Department of Psychology, North Dakota State University, Fargo, North Dakota 58105, USA.
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.
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