The overall study design was a within-subjects, double-blind, placebo-controlled human laboratory paradigm. In the lab protocol, the BAES was administered both before and after participants consumed their allocated beverage. The current analyses used data from the alcohol session (0.8 g/kg dose). In order to reduce alcohol expectancy, the Alternative Substance Paradigm (Conrad et al., 2012 in press) was employed: participants were told that the beverage might contain a stimulant, a sedative, alcohol, or a placebo, or two substances in combination and at various dose levels. Neither the participant nor the experimenter knew the contents of the beverage. A validity check indicated that 20% of participants incorrectly identified that the high alcohol dose beverage contained another active substance, and these participants reported more subjective sedation but similar stimulation than those who correctly identified the beverage contained alcohol (Conrad et al., 2012, in press).
