Given Tapert’s particular finding, we examined our own data post hoc for correlations between BOLD response and drinking patterns. While we found no correlation between the number of drinks consumed per month and BOLD signal activation in the posterior cingulate, we did observe a significant positive correlation between the number of heavy drinking days (for men, greater than 4 drinks; for women, greater than 3 drinks) and BOLD signal activation in the retrosplenial-posterior cingulate cortex (peak maximum p = 0.002 at [−8, −34, 28]; see Fig. 7), which is within 10 mm of the effect reported by Tapert et al. (2003). This positive correlation between heavy drinking days and BOLD response in the posterior cingulate reinforces the concept that this area is involved in subjective reward value (Kable and Glimcher, 2007). That is, individuals with a higher number of heavy drinking days presumably place a higher subjective value on alcohol and find it more rewarding. The correlation was, however, present only with the [AO > ApCO]alcohol contrast, and not with the [AO > NApO]alcohol contrast (or in any of the comparisons under placebo), which is similar to Tapert’s results where the neutral condition consisted of appetitive stimuli (non-alcoholic drinks).
