While in the scanner participants underwent an alcohol taste-cue paradigm previously reported to elicit BOLD responses in mesocorticolimbic areas (10, 11). Alcohol and water taste stimuli were delivered via Teflon tubing using a computer-controlled delivery system (Infinity Controller; J-KEM Scientific Inc., St. Louis, MO) as described by Filbey et al. (11). The paradigm consisted of 12 taste cue trials (six alcohol and six water trials in a pseudorandomized sequence) in which 1ml of liquid was delivered. Each trial consisted of a 24s taste delivery period, followed by a 6s rest period, a 12s urge rating period, and a 2s delay before the initiation of the next trial (Figure 1). The words “Alcohol Taste” or “Control Taste” were visually presented during cue delivery. During the urge rating period, participants were instructed to rate their current subjective urge to drink alcohol using a scale of 1 (no urge at all) to 4 (very high urge) using a 4 button response box placed in their right hand. Sauvignon Blanc wine was used for the alcohol taste cue and filtered tap water was used
