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Despite a well-established relationship between alcohol and risky behavior in the natural environment, laboratory investigations have not reliably shown acute alcohol effects on human risk-taking.

The present study was designed to demonstrate a dose-response relationship between acute alcohol administration and human risk taking. Further, this investigation sought to delineate behavioral mechanisms that may be involved in alcohol-induced changes in the probability of risky behavior.

Using a laboratory measure of risk taking designed to address acute drug effects, 16 adults were administered placebo, 0.2, 0.4, and 0.8 g/kg alcohol in a within-subject repeated measures experimental design. The risk-taking task presented subjects with a choice between two response options …