As in human data, there is also suggestion from animal studies that the links between impulsivity and alcohol use may be genetically mediated. One research strategy that has been used to demonstrate this in animals is to study impulsivity measures in animal lines selectively bred for differences in alcohol consumption. One pair of rat lines used to study genetic influences on alcohol-related traits is the alcohol preferring (P) and non-preferring (NP) rats. These lines were created by selective breeding of rats from the high and low extremes of alcohol consumption and preference as assessed by a two-bottle preference test procedure. After approximately 15 generations, the P and NP rats showed stable, highly differentiated alcohol preference. In addition, it has been suggested that P rats show behavioral disinhibition, as they evidence difficulties learning behaviors that require response inhibition across multiple tasks. P rats showed deficits in a passive avoidance learning task, in which the rats had to learn to inhibit stepping down from a platform to avoid a shock. In addition, they showed deficits on a DRL task, in which they
