While Purdue wastes its time studying silly stuff like why some stutterers grow out of it and some don't, Indiana University picks up the slack with this truly groundbreaking research:
Just tasting cold, refreshing beer -- with no influence from alcohol -- make increase your desire to get drunk.
"We believe this is the first experiment in humans to show that the taste of an alcoholic drink alone, without any intoxicating effect from the alcohol, can elicit this dopamine activity in the brain's reward centers," David A. Kareken, professor of neurology at the Indiana University School of Medicine and the deputy director of the Indiana Alcohol Research Center, said in a press release.
A taste of beer makes you want more? Really? Love that dopamine.
I think it's a little risky for these researchers to make the leap from "a taste of beer" to "the taste of an alcoholic drink alone" though. The first reaction to some alcoholic drinks -- gin is the one that immediately comes to mind -- is to gag and run to the bathroom for a quick gargle. They put the beer up against Gatorade for the test, by the way. Gatorade! A sip of beer hits the brain's reward center more than a sip of Gatorade! Whoda thunk it?
