Several directions can be proposed for future research involving variations of the CASE paradigm (e.g., Zimmermann et al., 2013). For example, self-administration paradigms can be important for evaluating mechanisms of pharmacotherapy response (O'Malley et al., 2002) and represent a valuable option for medication screening studies. Progressive ratio paradigms can be incorporated with CASE, perhaps facilitating pharmacotherapy and pharmacogenetic studies (Plawecki et al., 2013). Recent work also suggests the importance of self-administration paradigms for laboratory models of relapse (McKee, 2009). Because alcohol self-administration paradigms reflect a relatively small proportion of human laboratory studies overall (Zimmermann et al., 2013), greater use and refinement of these paradigms could inform novel approaches for studying addiction liability and treatment response.
