Participants
Separate groups of 26 participants were involved in the Oddball Task
(Mean age 20.77, range 18-32, 10 males, 2 left-handed) and the
Regularity task (Mean age 19.62, range 18-30, 3 males, 0 left-handed).
The experiments had local ethics committee approval and was conducted in
accordance with the declaration of Helsinki (revised 2008).
Participants completed the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Task
(AUDIT; Babor et al., 2001) to assess chance differences in drinking
behaviour and related problems between groups (Oddball Task mean = 9.65,
Regularity task mean = 12.00, maximum possible score = 40).
Individuals were excluded from participation if they had a current or
previous diagnosis of alcohol or other substance use disorder, assessed
by self-report. Participants that met the eligibility criteria were
asked to consume a low-fat meal approximately an hour before each
session and to refrain from consuming caffeine. Participants also had to
provide an alcohol breathalyser reading of zero mg/l upon arrival for
their session.
The gap between alcohol and placebo sessions varied from 3-69 days in
the Oddball task (median = 7), and 3-259 days (median = 8) in the
Regularity task. Some participants did not return for their second
sessions and were replaced.