Adjunctive alcohol drinking in humans.

In an attempt to validate the animal model of adjunctive ethanol drinking in people, human subjects were allowed access to ad lib beer while playing a game that delivered monetary reinforcements on a FI schedule. Subjects exposed to a longer FI schedule drank significantly more than those exposed to a shorter schedule, confirming the prediction made by the animal model. A pattern of ingestion characteristic of adjunctive drinking was also observed in the longer FI condition, providing evidence that ethanol drinking in humans can be schedule-induced.