Even One Taste Of Alcohol Increases Dopamine

im 21, i didnt drink barely at all for a few years or so, rarely drunk at all in fact but used drugs . I do admit one mouthful of whisky gives me a lot of pleasure.

I have started drinking maybe once a week sometimes 3 times now
 
Okay...doesn't this just re-demonstrate the physiology of classical conditioning that ties neutral stimuli to rewarding stimuli?

ebola
 
ebola? said:
Okay...doesn't this just re-demonstrate the physiology of classical conditioning that ties neutral stimuli to rewarding stimuli?

ebola
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That question could be answered if the source would bother linking to the paper it summarizes.
 
A little more info here.

"We believe this is the first experiment in humans to show that the taste of an alcoholic drink alone, without any intoxicating effect from the alcohol, can elicit this dopamine activity in the brain's reward centers."
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More information - and the original mass-media article, maybe? - here

Research for several decades has linked dopamine to the consumption of various drugs of abuse, although researchers have differing interpretations of the neurotransmitter's role. Sensory cues that are closely associated with drug intoxication (such as tastes and smells, or the sight of a tavern) have long been known to spark cravings and induce treatment relapse in recovering alcoholics. Many neuroscientists believe that dopamine plays a critical role in such cravings.
The study participants received a very small amount of their preferred beer -- 15 milliliters -- over a 15-minute time period, enabling them to taste the beer without resulting in any detectable blood-alcohol level or intoxicating effect.

Using a PET scanning compound that targets dopamine receptors in the brain, the researchers were able to assess changes in dopamine levels after the participants tasted the liquids.
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actual study is here , and it seems to answer Ebola's question in the affirmative:

Thus, while prior studies of oral alcohol suggest that striatal DA may be released as a function of alcohol’s pharmacologic effects (Boileau et al, 2003; Urban et al, 2010; Ramchandani et al, 2011), we believe that alcohol-conditioned taste cues alone may also be sufficient to induce ventral striatal DA release—an interpretation consistent with findings in animals (Doyon et al, 2003; Doyon et al, 2005).
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Now I'm surprised that similar studies have not been conducted previously (well, IIRC, they have, but focusing on cues associated with cocaine and heroin in active or ex-addicts).

It's just that. . .if they were to have discovered the opposite finding, I would have been WAY more surprised.

ebola
 
So what is this saying - when you experience a taste you consider pleasurable, you get a reward?

Could it be that people *gasp* drink alcoholic beverages not only to get intoxicated, but also for the pleasurable* taste? If you did the same study over, except giving people one bite of their favourite comfort food, & measuring "dopamine" in their brains** (ugh) I expect you'd see the same results.

* some would argue otherwise
** measuring the binding of dopamine to receptors... not total molarity of dopamine in the CNS
 
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