After the repeated pairing of alcohol's pharmacologic actions with its other sensory properties, learned associations can develop between intoxication and alcohol's taste, smell, and sight. Such Pavlovian “conditioned stimuli” are thought to be important in the maintenance of drinking, craving, and relapse (Carter & Tiffany, 1999; Cooney et al., 1997; Litt et al., 2000; Cox et al., 2002). Since particular cerebral vulnerabilities that affect the response to alcohol may be inherited (Schuckit, 2009), it is also plausible that the brain's response to alcohol's conditioned stimuli may be similarly influenced by genetic history (Tapert et al., 2003; Katner et al., 1996). Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in non-dependent subjects matched for heavy “at-risk” drinking, we recently showed that a family history of alcoholism significantly affects medial frontal reward region responses to the odors of subjects’ preferred alcoholic drinks (Kareken et al., 2010). In particular, heavy drinking subjects who were family history positive for alcoholism had a greater response to alcoholic drink odors (AO, as compared to odors of grape and chocolate) than did family history negative subjects. This differential response
