For instance, adolescent rats, like their human counterparts (e.g., Beck et al., 1993), are very sensitive to the social facilitation induced by relatively low doses of alcohol, whereas such alcohol-related social stimulation is not normally seen in adult rats (e.g., see Spear & Varlinskaya et al., 2005). Several recent studies have suggested that adolescent animals may also find alcohol to be generally more rewarding than do adults (Pautassi et al., 2008; Ristuccia & Spear, 2008), although work in this area is just beginning, and the data to date are mixed (see Dickinson et al, 2009).
