In accordance with DSM-IV-r criteria describing devaluation of natural rewards in alcoholism, alcohol-dependent individuals in comparison with healthy controls show an increase in striatal BOLD responses to visual alcohol cues, together with a decrease to non-drug-related monetary cues (Wrase et al., 2007). Furthermore, reduced nucleus accumbens reactivity to non-drug rewards was shown to correlate with higher impulsivity scores (Beck et al., 2009). However, other types of cues (i.e., non-visual cues) have led to more variable results. For example, olfactory cues increased BOLD signaling in the nucleus accumbens in high-risk drinkers (Kareken et al., 2004). A later study from the same group, however, failed to find this hemodynamic response to the most preferred alcohol odor of non-dependent heavy drinkers with a family history of AUD (Kareken et al., 2010). Exposure to the taste of alcohol, however, elicits strong BOLD responses in the prefrontal cortex, striatum, and the ventral tegmental area/substantia nigra in alcoholics (Filbey et al., 2008).
