Understanding why people with alcohol use issues want more alcohol and how to help them
Official title: Translational underpinnings of motivation for alcohol in humans
Funded at University of California Los Angeles · NIH-11392470 · Data updated 2026-11-12
A research project at UCLA is exploring what motivates people to drink alcohol and how that motivation could be measured and treated in real-world settings.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | University of California Los Angeles NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Los Angeles, United States) |
| Project start | August 17, 2023 |
| Project end | July 31, 2027 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $423,503 |
| NIH project number | 5R01AA029701-04 |
| Project ID | NIH-11392470 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Adults with alcohol use disorder or heavy drinking who may participate in controlled, supervised laboratory studies involving alcohol administration.
✕Less likely to help
Individuals who cannot participate in lab-based alcohol administration or who do not have AUD or heavy drinking patterns may not benefit.
What this research studies
Researchers are building on previous work that used human drinking experiments and controlled alcohol delivery to understand the drive to drink. They use a task that mirrors animal studies to measure how hard someone will work to obtain alcohol, aiming to connect this motivation with specific aspects of AUD. The study integrates insights from human testing with ideas from clinical models to guide future treatments. It involves careful, ethically approved methods to study motivation in people who drink heavily and to translate findings toward better care.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, the work could reveal targets for new treatments that reduce urgency to drink and improve clinical tools for measuring motivation in AUD.
How similar studies have gone: Past translational work showed that experimentally induced motivation for alcohol can be measured in people and linked to clinical phenomena, supporting further development.
Where this research is happening
-
University of California Los Angeles
Los Angeles, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Ray, Lara a. — University of California Los Angeles
- Study coordinator: Ray, Lara a.
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About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.