This project aims to investigate how dysfunctional learning and habitization are affected by acute alcohol exposure, and whether individual differences in such alcohol effects can predict later development of Alcohol Use Disorders (AUDs). Eighty 18-year-old healthy male subjects are tested on two days in a within-subjects design with blinded administration of alcohol vs. placebo and different behavioral and learning tasks. The investigators investigate how alcohol influences the performance during these tasks, whether alcohol effects differ between high- and low-risk subjects, and whether task performance under alcohol predicts future AUDs.
This project is part of a large multi-center study in Dresden and Berlin on Learning and Alcohol Dependence (LeAD). Project 4 aims to investigate how dysfunctional learning and habitization are affected by acute alcohol exposure, and whether individual differences in such alcohol effects can predict later development of AUDs. The project investigates eighty 18-year-old healthy male subjects, a subsample of LeAD project 1 that were already tested in Dresden using fMRI(Clinical Trials.govID: NCT01744834). Participants are tested on two days in a within-subjects design with blinded administration of alcohol or placebo. On 2 days participants are performing three behavioral and learning tasks measuring: 1. conditioning of money vs. drink stimuli 2. habitization vs. instrumental learning and 3. approach and avoidance behavior towards money and drink stimuli. The investigators investigate how alcohol influences the performance during these tasks, whether alcohol effects differ between high- and low-risk subjects, and whether task performance under alcohol predicts future AUDs. Participants will be followed up after three years. The project investigates whether single doses of alcohol affect the conditioning of monetary reward or alcoholic stimuli, impair instrumental learning, and enhance stimulus-response associations. The investigators want to test whether individual performance parameters are related to other risk factors for AUDs, e.g. family history of alcoholism or impulsivity.
Study Type
OBSERVATIONAL
Enrollment
75
University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus
Dresden, Saxony, Germany
individual learning parameters
estimated by computational modeling of behavioral performance in learning/conditioning tasks the investigators test effects of individual parameters on actual risk factors of AUDs and future AUDs
Time frame: 2 days at age 18
individual approach/avoidance reaction time differences
individual reaction time (RT) differences between approach and avoidance of alcoholic, non-alcoholic, and monetary stimuli under alcohol vs. placebo are measured the investigators test effects of individual RT differences on actual risk factors of AUDs and future AUDs
Time frame: 2 days at age 18
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