An English University has spent £20,000 creating a high-tech fake pub laboratory so that psychology students can examine the effects of alcohol on behavior.
South Bank University in London has established the "research pub" within its school of psychology, and it features beer taps, a fruit machine, bar stools and beverages.
However, although all the beverages will smell and taste like alcohol, some will merely be placebos.
Dr Tony Moss, head of psychology at the university, who is behind the idea, told the Guardian newspaper that "what we are trying to do is simulate, with a greater deal of control, the environment in which people find themselves drinking."
"This is somewhere in between being able to do research in the real world in a bar — where we have very little control over what is going on — and in a lab cubicle, which is nothing like the way people are drinking in the real world."
Anne Foster, spokeswoman for Drinkaware, a charity that promotes responsible drinking, said: "We are particularly interested in understanding the psychology behind consumer behaviour, so being able to conduct experiments in the pub environment is going to be hugely valuable."
