Effects of a New Behavioral Intervention on Alcohol Craving and Drinking

Objective: To evaluate alcohol memory retrieval-extinction, a novel behavioral procedure for reduction of craving and drinking, in problem drinkers. Study population: We will collect evaluable data from up to 75 participants. Participants are evaluable if they complete ecological momentary assessment (EMA, described below). All participants will be adult alcohol drinkers (men: \> 14 drinks/week or \> 4 drinks/day; women: \> 7 drinks/week or \> 3 drinks/day) whose drinking scores as hazardous on the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test. Participants will not be seeking treatment for an alcohol-use disorder, be physiologically dependent on alcohol, or have other drug use disorders. Participants can have nicotine use disorder. Design: A randomized study with three groups. Participants will use smartphones to provide geotagged reports of alcohol craving and drinking in daily life (EMA reports) before, between, and after a series of laboratory sessions. During sessions, participants will drink an alcoholic beverage (individualized to produce a 0.06 g/dL blood alcohol content) or a soft drink. Participants will then be repeatedly presented with alcohol or soft drink-associated cues without further drinking. These are the memory retrieval and extinction portions, respectively, of memory retrieval-extinction. Previous studies suggest this procedure can robustly reduce Pavlovian associations between cues and responses such as craving. The mechanism seems to involve memory reconsolidation, in which freshly retrieved associations (e.g. drink cues and consumption - pleasant effects) become more vulnerable to disruption by extinction. Three groups will be tested: (1) alcohol retrieval / alcohol extinction will be compared to (2) soft-drink retrieval / alcohol extinction and (3) alcohol retrieval / soft-drink extinction. Before and after retrieval-extinction, participants will be tested for alcohol craving and cue-induced physiological responses in laboratory sessions. Retrieval-extinction will be followed by approximately one week of follow-up EMA reporting, with telephone contact approximately 30 days thereafter. Outcome parameters: * The co-primary outcome measures are: self-reported alcohol craving in the laboratory sessions before and after retrieval-extinction, and EMA reports of alcohol craving and drinking. Daily-life responses are important because the version of retrieval-extinction we will be using, with retrieval induced by drinking alcohol itself, rather than alcohol cues alone, may be especially likely to have effects that generalize from the laboratory to daily life. * Secondary outcome measures are: self-reported alcohol craving and drinking at 30-day follow-up