In a recent paper in Science, Waggoner Center researchers Dayne Mayfield and Sean Farris, and investigators from Linköping University in Sweden, uncovered a molecular mechanism involved in the preference for alcohol over other rewards. Utilizing a procedure that arguably models alcohol addiction in rats, they found that a subset of rats self-administered alcohol even when a sweet, high-value reward was available. These rats also showed high motivation to obtain alcohol and drink it despite negative consequences, such as foot shocks or when it was adulterated with quinine.
