1. ¹Department of Psychology, University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, CO, USA
2. ²Department of Psychiatry, University of Colorado—Denver Health Sciences, Denver, CO, USA
3. ³Institute of Cognitive Science, University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, CO, USA
4. ⁴Department of Radiology, University of Colorado—Denver Health Sciences, Denver, CO, USA

Correspondence: Dr KE Hutchison, Department of Psychology, University of Colorado at Boulder, CB345, Boulder, Colorado 80309, USA. Tel: +1 303 492 3298; Fax: +1 303 492 2967; E-mail: Kent.hutchison@colorado.edu

Received 18 January 2007; Revised 21 May 2007; Accepted 15 June 2007; Published online 25 July 2007.

Abstract

A growing number of imaging studies suggest that alcohol cues, mainly visual, elicit activation in mesocorticolimbic structures. Such findings are consistent with the growing recognition that these structures play an important role in the attribution of incentive salience and the pathophysiology of addiction. The present study investigated whether the presentation of alcohol taste cues can activate brain regions putatively involved in the acquisition and expression of incentive salience. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we recorded BOLD activity while delivering alcoholic tastes to 37 heavy drinking but otherwise healthy volunteers. The results yielded a pattern of BOLD activity in mesocorticolimbic structures (ie prefrontal cortex, striatum, ventral tegmental area/substantia nigra) relative to an appetitive control. Further analyses suggested strong connectivity between these structures during cue-elicited urge and demonstrated significant positive correlations with a measure of alcohol use problems (ie the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test). Thus, repeated exposure to the taste alcohol in the scanner elicits activation in mesocorticolimbic structures, and this activation is related to measures of urge and severity of alcohol problems.