family history of alcoholism (two or more first- or second-relatives with probable alcoholism) as assessed with the Semi-Structured Assessment for the Genetics of Alcoholism (SSAGA; Bucholz et al., 1994). The sample’s average score on the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT; Saunders et al., 1993) exceeded the commonly used cutoff of 8, which is considered suggestive of alcohol-related problems (Conigrave and Hall, 1995; Conigrave and Saunders, 1995). All subjects had normal scores on the University of Pennsylvania Smell Identification Test (Doty, 1995), and all denied any Axis-I psychiatric disorders or neurological conditions of cerebral origin in a screening interview. Subjects were screened for drugs of abuse (amphetamines/methamphetamines, barbiturates, benzodiazapines, cannabinoids, cocaine, opiates, and PCP [1-phencyclohexyl piperidine]) on the day of imaging. One subject reported having smoked marijuana the night before imaging, and tested positive for cannabinoids on the day of an alcohol infusion (but not on the placebo day). The remaining subjects had negative toxicology screens.
