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Monday, May 7, 2007

Brain Activation Elicited by Affectively Positive Stimuli Is Associated With a Lower Risk of Relapse in Detoxified Alcoholic Subjects

Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research (OnlineEarly Articles). 4 May 2007

Stimuli that are regularly associated with alcohol intake (AI) may acquire incentive salience, while other reinforcers can be devalued. We assessed whether brain activation elicited by (1) alcohol associated, (2) affectively positive, and (3) negative versus neutral stimuli is associated with the subsequent risk of relapse.

In this study, brain activation elicited by briefly presented alcohol-associated stimuli was not associated with the prospective risk of relapse. Unexpectedly, alcoholic subjects displayed increased limbic brain activation during the presentation of affectively positive but not negative stimuli, which may reflect a protective factor in detoxified alcoholic subjects.

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