Abstract
RationaleMotivation to drink alcohol can be measured in the laboratory using an ad-libitum ‘taste test’, in which participants rate the taste of alcoholic drinks whilst their intake is covertly monitored. Little is known about the construct validity of this paradigm.ObjectiveThe objective of this study was to investigate variables that may compromise the validity of this paradigm and its construct validity.MethodsWe re-analysed data from 12 studies from our laboratory that incorporated an ad-libitum taste test. We considered time of day and participants’ awareness of the purpose of the taste test as potential confounding variables. We examined whether gender, typical alcohol consumption, subjective craving, scores on the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test and perceived pleasantness of the drinks predicted ad-libitum consumption (construct validity).ResultsWe included 762 participants (462 female). Participant awareness and time of day were not related to ad-libitum alcohol consumption. Males drank significantly more alcohol than females (p < 0.001), and individual differences in typical alcohol consumption (p = 0.04), craving (p < 0.001) and perceived pleasantness of the drinks (p = 0.04) were all significant predictors of ad-libitum consumption.ConclusionsWe found little evidence that time of day or participant awareness influenced alcohol consumption. The construct validity of the taste test was supported by relationships between ad-libitum consumption and typical alcohol consumption, craving and pleasantness ratings of the drinks. The ad-libitum taste test is a valid method for the assessment of alcohol intake in the laboratory.
Highlights
Experimental investigations of the psychological processes that influence alcohol consumption are reliant on laboratory measures of alcohol-seeking
The ad-libitum taste test is a valid method for the assessment of alcohol intake in the laboratory
In a recent study involving an ad-libitum taste test with food, we demonstrated that participants who were aware that their intake was being monitored reduced their food consumption (Robinson et al 2014)
Summary
Experimental investigations of the psychological processes that influence alcohol consumption are reliant on laboratory measures of alcohol-seeking. Using a balanced placebo design, male alcoholics and controls were randomised to receive either alcohol or placebo, and they were informed that they were receiving either alcohol or placebo. They were asked to rate these beverages on a series of adjectives. The taste ratings concealed the genuine purpose of the taste test, which was to unobtrusively record how much of the available drink participants would consume. This paradigm or slight variations thereof has since become widely used in laboratory studies. Variations include the availability of a second beverage (usually a soft drink) in order to control for thirst and achieve consilience with animal paradigms such as the two-bottle free-choice procedure
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