Low blood alcohol discrimination and self-titration skills of social drinkers with widely varied drinking habits.

Abstract
Six alcohol drinking sessions were administered to 20 males ranging widely in age (18-55 yr) and classified as "light" or ''heavy" social drinkers on the basis of their frequency of drinking and customary dose (ml absolute alcohol/kg). Pre-training measures of accuracy in discriminating low blood alcohol concentrations (bac) were obtained on Session I. Training in bac discrimination (immediate feedback about actual bac) occurred during Session III, and Session II assessed post-training effects. Subsequent Sessions IV-VI tested self-titration skill (i.e., self-administration of alcohol to achieve a specific pre-assigned peak bac). Discrimination of bac on all post-training sessions (III-VI) was significantly more accurate than pre-training performance. The accuracy with which subjects self-titrated their alcohol to hit a particular peak bac was consistent over Sessions IV-VI and was comparable to their accuracy in bac discrimination. The development of these skills bore no significant relation to age or drinking habits, suggesting that the training technique may be applicable to broad spectrum of social drinkers. The importance of feedback in establishing bac discrimination was discussed.

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