Multisensory Processing of Alcohol Cues in Young Adult Binge Drinkers

March 20, 2025 updated by: Rebecca Houston, Rochester Institute of Technology

Binge drinking is common among young adults and is related to many negative health outcomes including blackouts, risky sex, drunk driving, alcohol use disorder, and liver disease. Understanding whether there are differences in how binge drinkers respond to alcohol-related cues and whether this is related to craving is important for improving interventions and treatments. The proposed study will compare behavioral and neural processing of alcohol and non-alcohol cues in a single sensory modality (vision) with that of cues presented in multiple sensory modalities (vision, touch, and smell) with varying degrees of realistic appearance (images, virtual reality, real objects). Participants will answer questionnaires related to their physical and mental health and recent alcohol and drug use. Those eligible for the study will complete two in-person lab sessions. During both sessions they will be asked to view a series of cues which will include images on a computer screen, objects presented in virtual reality, or real objects. Sometimes these will be presented just visually and other times they will be combined with the presentation of specific smells or an object to touch. Some of these cues will be alcohol-related and others will be neutral (non-alcohol-related). Brainwave activity, as measured by the electroencephalogram (EEG), and reports of alcohol craving will be collected during these sessions. It is expected that brainwave activity will be greatest in response to multisensory cues compared to that in response unisensory (visual only) cues. It is also expected that young adults with a recent history of binge drinking will show the greatest brainwave activity in response to multisensory alcohol cues compared to social drinkers. Binge drinkers will also report more alcohol craving in response to multisensory alcohol cues compared to social drinkers. It is anticipated that brainwave responses will increase as the level of realism of the cues increases. Binge drinkers will also show stronger brainwave and craving responses to multisensory alcohol cues presented as real objects. Finally, binge drinkers will show lessened brain and craving responses when multisensory cues do not match compared to social drinkers. For example, if a photo shows an alcoholic drink but the smell presented is not alcohol related, binge drinkers will show less attentive brain activity toward those mismatched cues. Given that most alcohol cues in daily life are experienced across multiple senses simultaneously, results of this research will provide a better understanding of the relation between alcohol cue processing and craving, and will inform development of more effective programs for decreasing young adult risky drinking behavior.

Study Overview

Status

Not yet recruiting

Conditions

Drinking, Binge

Study Type

Observational

Enrollment (Estimated)

100

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Name: Rebecca J Houston, PhD
Phone Number: 585-475-5205
Email: rjhgss@rit.edu

Study Contact Backup

Name: Elena Fedorovskaya, PhD
Phone Number: 585-475-6952
Email: eafppr@rit.edu

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Sampling Method

Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Participants will be recruited via social media advertisements, fliers posted on college campuses and in the community, and a departmental research participants group.

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

ages 18 to 25 years old
meet criteria for either the binge drinker or social drinker groups previously described

Exclusion Criteria:

history of head injury involving loss of consciousness of 10+ minutes
colorblindness
hearing, tactile, olfactory or uncorrected vision deficits
history of seizures
neurological disorder diagnosis
mental health history of psychosis or mania
history of alcohol or substance use disorder diagnosis
illicit drug use in the past 30 days
changes to psychotropic medication type or dose in past 3 months

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

Number of groups / cohorts

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort
Young Adult Binge Drinkers Participants ages 18 to 25 with a history of binge drinking (at least 2 episodes of 5+ standard drinks per episode for males/4+ standard drinks per episode for females) in the past month and at least 4+/3+ (males/females) score on the Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test.
Young Adult Social Drinkers Participants ages 18 to 25 who report drinking alcohol at least once in the past month but no current history of a binge pattern (i.e., 2 or fewer drinks per episode) AND score less than 4/3 (males/females) on the Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Event-related Potential Amplitudes in Response to Alcohol and Neutral Cues Time Frame: Baseline and follow-up (within 1 week)	Amplitude (magnitude) of electrocortical activity assessed in response to alcohol-related and neutral cues presented either visually or in visual-olfactory or visual-tactile combinations.	Baseline and follow-up (within 1 week)

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Rochester Institute of Technology

Collaborators

National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)

Investigators

Principal Investigator: Rebecca J Houston, PhD, Rochester Institute of Technology

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Estimated)

September 1, 2025

Primary Completion (Estimated)

November 1, 2026

Study Completion (Estimated)

February 1, 2027

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

March 13, 2025

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 18, 2025

First Posted (Actual)

March 25, 2025

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)