Brent A. Kaplan

Experimental tobacco marketplace: substitutability of e-cigarette liquid for cigarettes as a function of nicotine strength

Background The experimental tobacco marketplace (ETM) provides a method to estimate, prior to implementation, the effects of new products or policies on purchasing across various products in a complex tobacco marketplace. We used the ETM to examine the relationship between nicotine strength and substitutability of alternative products for cigarettes to contribute to the literature on regulation of e-liquid nicotine strength. Methods The present study contained four sampling and four ETM purchasing sessions. During sampling sessions, participants were provided 1 of 4 e-liquid strengths (randomised) to sample for 2u2009days followed by an ETM purchasing session. The nicotine strength sampled in the 2u2009days prior to an ETM session was the same strength available for purchase in the next ETM. Each participant sampled and could purchase 0 mg/mL, 6 mg/mL, 12 mg/mL and 24u2009mg/mL e-liquid, among other products, during the study. Results Cigarette demand was unaltered across e-liquid strength. E-liquid was the only product to substitute for cigarettes across more than one e-liquid strength. Substitutability increased as a function of e-liquid strength, with the 24u2009mg/mL displaying the greatest substitutability of all products. Conclusions The present study found that e-liquid substitutability increased with nicotine strength, at least up to 24u2009mg/mL e-liquid. However, the effects of e-liquid nicotine strength on cigarette purchasing were marginal and total nicotine purchased increased as e-liquid nicotine strength increased.

Electronic cigarette substitution in the experimental tobacco marketplace: A review.

The evolution of science derives, in part, from the development and use of new methods and techniques. Here, we discuss one development that may have impact on the understanding of tobacco regulatory science: namely, the application of behavioral economics to the complex tobacco marketplace. The purpose of this paper is to review studies that examine conditions impacting the degree to which electronic nicotine delivery system (ENDS) products substitute for conventional cigarettes in the Experimental Tobacco Marketplace (ETM). Collectively, the following factors constitute the current experimental understanding of conditions that will affect ENDS use and substitution for conventional cigarettes: increasing the base price of conventional cigarettes, increasing taxation of conventional cigarettes, subsidizing the price of ENDS products, increasing ENDS nicotine strength, and providing narratives that illustrate the potential health benefits of ENDS consumption in lieu of conventional cigarettes. Each of these factors are likely moderated by consumer characteristics, which include prior ENDS use, ENDS use risk perception, and gender. Overall, the ETM provides a unique method to explore and identify the conditions by which various nicotine products may interact with one another that mimics the real world. In addition, the ETM permits the efficacy of a broad range of potential nicotine policies and regulations to be measured prior to governmental implementation.

Clinical models of decision making in addiction

&NA; As research on decision making in addiction accumulates, it is increasingly clear that decision‐making processes are dysfunctional in addiction and that this dysfunction may be fundamental to the initiation and maintenance of addictive behavior. How drug‐dependent individuals value and choose among drug and nondrug rewards is consistently different from non‐dependent individuals. The present review focuses on the assessment of decision‐making in addiction. We cover the common behavioral tasks that have shown to be fruitful in decision‐making research and highlight analytical and graphical considerations, when available, to facilitate comparisons within and among studies. Delay discounting tasks, drug demand tasks, drug choice tasks, the Iowa Gambling Task, and the Balloon Analogue Risk Task are included. HighlightsThe present review focuses on the assessment of decision‐making in addiction.We cover common behavioral tasks in decision‐making research.Analytical and graphical considerations, when available, are highlighted.

Understanding alcohol motivation using the alcohol purchase task: A methodological systematic review

BACKGROUNDnThe Alcohol Purchase Task (APT) is a behavioral economic assessment of alcohol demand (i.e., motivation for consumption during escalating levels of response cost) using simulated marketplace survey techniques. While the APT is often used and widely cited, to date, there has yet to be a systematic review elucidating the variability in administering and analyzing the APT. The purpose of the current paper is to address this knowledge gap in the literature by cataloging the various purchase task methodologies and providing recommendations and future areas of inquiry.nnnMETHODSnThe PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) methodology was utilized (Prospero: No. CRD42017072159). Searches through Google Scholar, PsychINFO, PubMed, and SpringerLink databases identified 47 empirical articles referencing the use of an APT and published through the year 2016. Articles were coded for demographic and procedural characteristics, structural characteristics of the APT itself, and characteristics of data analysis.nnnRESULTSnResults indicate substantial variation within categories and suggest that there is no standard approach to administering the APT or analyzing the responses generated from it. The results underscore the need for researchers to report as much information as possible related to administration, instructions, price structuring, and analytical approach, as we found that many articles did not provide these details.nnnCONCLUSIONnEnhancing the transparency of APT methods and analyses in published reports will aid in reproducibility as well as future meta-analytic studies of alcohol demand that could lead to the development of best-practice recommendations for this procedure.

The Demand Curve Analyzer: Behavioral economic software for applied research

Free and open-source software for applying models of operant demand called the Demand Curve Analyzer (DCA) was developed and systematically evaluated for use in research. The software was constructed to streamline the use of recommended screening measures, prepare suitable scaling parameters, fit one of several models of operant demand, and provide publication-quality figures. The DCA allows users to easily import price and consumption data into spreadsheet-based controls and to perform statistical modeling with the aid of a graphical user interface. The results from computer simulations and reanalyses of published study data indicated that the DCA provides results consistent with commercially available software that has been traditionally used to apply these analyses (i.e., GraphPadTM Prism). Further, the DCA provides additional functionality that other statistical packages do not include. Practical issues and future directions related to the determination of scaling parameter k, screening for nonsystematic data, and the incorporation of more advanced behavioral economic methods are also discussed.