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Background: The assessment of alcohol consumption during a drinking bout, known as drinking topography, may help improve understanding of biopsychosocial mechanisms underlying alcohol consumption. However, past studies have been limited by effort-intensive, time-consuming, and error-prone processes involved in collecting, organizing, and standardizing drinking topography data. Recent technologies allowing integrated data collection and greater environmental control, such as virtual reality (VR), could resolve these problems., Methods: In this pilot project, we assessed alcohol consumption topography of participants in a VR drinking environment with a programmable virtual confederate (i.e., bar goer) during two testing sessions. In one, the confederate drank quickly (30-60 s sip interval). In the other, the confederate drank slowly (60-120 s sip interval). Participants' hands and beverage were represented in VR. Between sips, beverages were placed on a Bluetooth-enabled scale, allowing real-time updates of drink weight. Participant experience was assessed after each testing visit. Multilevel modeling was used to characterize the effect of confederation condition on sip interval and sip volume. Descriptive analyses were used for participant experience data., Results: Results showed significant, moderate-to-strong between-visit correlations for topographic measures (r = 0.50 to r = 0.84) and indicate participants found the experience to be comfortable and acceptable. Multilevel models indicated participants had greater sip volumes and lower sip intervals when the confederate drank quickly., Conclusions: Future studies should take advantage of the considerable translational value of this technology to improve understanding of risk associated with individual drinking bouts and develop novel interventions for reducing hazardous drinking., (Copyright © 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: Understanding how alcohol consumption patterns are associated with negative and positive outcomes can inform efforts to reduce negative consequences through modification of those patterns. This is important in underage drinkers, many of whom drink heavily despite negative consequences. Most work has focused on the amount of alcohol consumed, but amount provides limited information about consumption patterns compared to rate of consumption, or how fast individuals drink. We therefore examined associations of both amount and rate of consumption with negative and positive outcomes (immediate affective states and next-morning consequences) in daily life., Method: Ninety-five college students aged 18-20 years completed ecological momentary assessment over 28 days. Participants reported number of standard drinks consumed and positive and negative affect hourly within drinking episodes. Estimated blood alcohol concentration (eBAC) values were used to create amount and rate of consumption indicators. Each morning after drinking, participants reported negative (e.g., blackout, hangover) and positive (e.g., new friend, making others laugh) consequences., Results: Within drinking episodes, multilevel models showed faster consumption was associated with reduced negative affect and both larger amount and faster consumption were associated with greater positive affect. Further, amount and rate were both associated with greater likelihood of a negative consequence the next morning. Rate, but not amount, was associated with more positive consequences., Conclusions: Not only how much but also how fast individuals drink may be important for the positive and negative outcomes they experience. Interventions to reduce negative alcohol-related outcomes should consider not only amount, but also rate of consumption., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)