Vice night: cigarettes and alcohol

Why do people find it so difficult to quit smoking? Meryem will discuss the complexity of tobacco withdrawal syndrome, why it is difficult to develop new treatments, and how cognitive performance tasks are a potential means to test the effectiveness of new treatments.

Excessive alcohol use is a major public health concern. David's talk will detail his research focussing on altering environments where alcohol is consumed in order to promote lower levels of drinking. He will talk about recent research which has shown that modifying glassware can reduce drinking times, and discuss future plans to investigate if the design of pubs is contributing to excessive alcohol use.

We like to think of ourselves as free agents making informed decisions as to what we drink and eat, but in fact our behaviour is often shaped by unconscious influences. The tobacco, alcohol and food industries are aware of this, and have engineered the products we buy, and the environments we consume them in, in order to maximise their profits. Marcus will outline some examples of this, and discuss how this influence extends into the conduct of scientific research.