The subjective response to alcohol’s effects in humans is complicated by an initial stimulant phase during the ascending limb of the BAL curve and subsequent responses reflecting unpleasant feelings during the descending limb of the BAL curve, and further complicated by the simultaneous development of tolerance. Most evidence connects low LR to the aversive aspects of alcohol to subsequent AD outcomes. In rodents, the subjective response to alcohol’s effects is difficult to model. Nevertheless, there appears to be a fairly robust negative genetic relationship between sensitivity to some aversive aspects of alcohol intoxication and tendency toward high two-bottle preference drinking, consistent with the low LR hypothesis. Why this is more robust in taste conditioning assays than in place conditioning assays may become clear as the basis for these two different learned responses is better elucidated [see Stephens et al, this issue (Stephens et al. 2010)].
