Decision Making in Alcoholic Patients and Its Contribution to Relapse

It is not surprising that people who anticipate alcohol ’s positive effects (positive alcohol expectancies) are more likely to drink. More formally, alcohol expectancies are generated by the interoceptive experiences that alcohol consumption generates, giving rise to mental representations of its reinforcing effects. Thus, positive expectancies that re present the reinforcing properties of alcohol can result from strong interoceptive cues and lead to drug seeking and consumption according to pavlovian conditioning theories of addiction.
Source: Biological Psychiatry - Category: Psychiatry Authors: Tags: Commentary Source Type: research