Neural correlates of alcohol-approach bias in alcohol addiction: the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak for spirits.

ABSTRACT: Behavioral studies have shown an alcohol-approach bias in alcohol-dependent patients: the automatic tendency to faster approach than avoid alcohol compared with neutral cues, which has been associated with craving and relapse. Although this is a well-studied psychological phenomenon, little is known about the brain processes underlying automatic action tendencies in addiction. We examined 20 alcohol-dependent patients and 17 healthy controls with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), while performing an implicit approach-avoidance task. Participants pushed and pulled pictorial cues of alcohol and soft-drink beverages, according to a content-irrelevant feature of the cue (landscape/portrait). The critical fMRI contrast regarding the alcohol-approach bias was defined as (approach alc

SUBMITTER: Wiers CE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3895246 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature