Alcohol Consumption and Addiction
Alcohol consumption is widespread in Australia and most Western countries. After consuming alcohol excessively for a length of time, people become addicted. As a result, it is critical that such people receive assistance in overcoming their addiction. This article describes the results of a rat experiment utilizing alcopops, sugar, and water. The experiment aims to examine how people's behavior and minds alter when they ingest alcohol coupled with sugar. The experiment demonstrates that rats have a consistent preference after a few days of the experiment, and their preference then becomes stable. The results of this experiment may be related to the consumption patterns of individuals who prefer alcohol with added sugar.
Introduction
Individuals consume alcohol for various reasons including; to celebrate, socialize, and relax among other reasons. Research by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare indicate that consumption of alcohol in Australia is widespread and in many cases entwined with cultural and social activities (2017). There is no doubt that consumption of alcohol poses harm to individuals in far as health, interpersonal relationship and economic status are concerned. While some people may know how to control it, alcohol has a strong effect on many individuals and in most case, people get addicted after a period of time (White & Hingson, 2014). The effects may include impaired motor ability, concentration problems and slurred speech among others. According to Roerecke & Rehm, one is likely to experience long term effects of alcohol if he or she drinks too much over a long period of time (2014). Some of the long term effects that the author mentions are cancer, alcohol use disorder, and death among others. For that reason, individuals are often advised to limit their consumption if they do not wish to abstain.
The Influence of Sugar on Alcohol Consumption
Given the effect of alcohol consumption on individuals and the society, it is important to understand why individuals still prefer to drink (Becker, 2012). This research study seeks to explore the drinking pattern of adolescents with a specific interest in alcohol that is mixed with sugar. Arguably, a majority of people consume sugar tend to be addicted to it. It is for this reason that manufacturers of alcohol have resorted to mixing alcohol with sugar to target individuals who do not take alcohol because of the bitter taste that characterizes it. The results of the experiment may likely inform the development of a better treatment that can be used to prevent addiction to the types of alcohol that are mixed with sugar. To achieve the purpose of the study, it is important to establish an animal model of an adolescent drinking behavior in female rats.
Animal Model and Experimental Design
It would be unethical to use human beings as participants in the study because of the effects of alcohol consumption on human health (Creswell, 2013). There is a possibility that the addition of sugar in alcohol will lead to the reduction of the rate at which the animals lever-pressed to access the 20% sucrose solutions. It implies that the animals will have perceived the Alcopop to be more rewarding than the 20% sucrose solution. We expect that the animals to learn how to learn how to discriminate the lever heading towards the Alcopop faster compared to how they would discriminate the lever towards the solution. Moreover, it is more likely that the Alcopop will be more rewarding more than the 20% sucrose solution would. The experiment is critical to understand how an individual's cognitive and behavioral functions change when he or she consumes sweetened alcohol and then, later on, gets addicted to the alcohol even without sugar contents. We expect that the rats will learn to lever press faster rate than water or the sucrose solution.
Discussion
The rats responded actively to the lever that was paired with the alcohol prop, thus indicating that they became addicted to the drug. Similarly, the rats that belonged to the 20% sucrose group demonstrated a preference for the active lever which was paired with drug delivery. This result implies that the sucrose affected the response of the rats to the extent that they sought for the solution. An analysis of both results shows that the rats had developed a preference for the alcohol prop and solution respectively, thus, confirming the expectations of the experiment as it had been hypothesized.
Preference and Reinforcement
It is evident from figure 3 that rats in Alcopop and 20% Sucrose groups increased the number of infusion after a period of time. On the other hand, the rats in the water group maintained a low level of infusion rate over the same period of time. Further, this indicates that the rats in the first two categories developed an addiction thus they responded faster to the substances. Evidently, the alcopop proved to be more reinforcing compared to the 20% Sucrose solution and the water. This observation confirms Koob's assertion that the behavior of animals is likely to be reinforced by a drug given the effects of the drug (2012).
Stability of Preferences
According to the results as displayed on the graph in figure 3, it is evident that the preference by the rats in alcopop group is unstable for the first 11 days after which it stabilizes up to the end the experiment. This result implies that the rats took time to adjust and become responsive to the alcopop. It displays the behavior of humans when introduced to alcohol consumption. That is, the way one would make attempts to resist the urge to consume but later on maintain a constant routine of consuming alcohol. On the other hand, the preference of rats in 20% Sucrose group was unstable until the fifth day when it stabilized up to the twentieth day. This trend indicates similarity with the one for alcopop. It is therefore arguable that both sugar and alcohol invokes similar responses when consumed.
Classical Conditioning and Behavioral Response
Arguably, there could have been a classical conditioning process that occurred during the course of the study. Jackson notes that a primary concern for experimental studies is the process of classical conditioning where the test subjects tend to develop a fixed response towards a stimulus (2015). The classical conditioning process might have affected the rate at which the rats pressed the lever in that they would recognize that pressing faster and harder would gain them a quicker reward. An additional fixed ration schedule of 3 presses for an infusion (FR 3) would be an appropriate reinforcement schedule to test the motivation of the rats. The strength of the study lies in the accuracy of the procedure for testing the rats. Its weakness is arguably based on the possibility that the rats could have been conditioned to lever-press for infusion. To make a proper interpretation of the data; it would be recommendable to set up a similar experiment but this time substitutes the infusion after some time and observe the difference in behavior of the rats.
References
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. (2017). National Drug Strategy Household Survey (NDSHS) 2016—key findings , Alcohol use – Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Retrieved from Australian Institute of Health and Welfare website: https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/illicit-use-of-drugs/ndshs-2016-key-findings/contents/alcohol-use
Becker, H. C. (2012). Effects of alcohol dependence and withdrawal on stress responsiveness and alcohol consumption. Alcohol research: current reviews, 34(4), 448.
Creswell, J. W. (2013). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches. Sage publications.
Jackson, S. L. (2015). Research methods and statistics: A critical thinking approach. Cengage Learning.
Koob, G. F. (2012). Animal model of drug addiction. Psychopharmacology: The fourth generation in progress. BLOOM FE, KUPFER DJ.
Roerecke, M., & Rehm, J. (2014). Alcohol consumption, drinking patterns, and ischemic heart disease: a narrative review of meta-analyses and a systematic review and meta-analysis of the impact of heavy drinking occasions on risk for moderate drinkers. BMC medicine, 12(1), 182.
White, A., & Hingson, R. (2014). The burden of alcohol use: Excessive alcohol consumption and related consequences among college students. Alcohol research: current reviews, 35(2), 201.
