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Brown shieldBrown shieldBrown University Brown shieldBrown shieldBrown UniversityAlcohol and Addiction Studies at Brown University

Understanding Craving for Alcohol via Behavioral Economics

Principal Investigator

James MacKillop

Assistant Professor (Research)
James_Mackillop@brown.edu

Funding Source

Alcoholic Beverage Medical Research Foundation

Description

Craving is a controversial construct in research on alcoholism and drug addiction, largely because of ambiguous empirical connections to both ongoing substance use and post-treatment relapse. This may be in part due to craving being typically assessed using subjective self-reports, which may be accompanied by a number of biases. This study will attempt to clarify the role of craving by using a behavioral economic approach, translating subjective craving into objective indices of relative value. This research is funded by the Alcoholic Beverage Medical Research Foundation.