The results supported the initial hypothesis that carriers of the long allele of the DRD4 gene would report greater urge to drink but offered no support for the notion that this polymorphism moderates subjective responses to alcohol. The finding that the DRD4-L allele was associated with greater urge to drink after alcohol consumption is consistent with previous laboratory studies (Hutchison et al., 2002; McGeary et al., 2006). However, an interaction between DRD4 genotype and eBAC indicated that at higher eBAC urge to drink had a more pronounced increase among homozygotes for the short allele than carriers of the long allele. A recent study used functional imaging (fMRI) to examine the neural correlates of these two polymorphisms upon presentation of alcohol taste cues and a priming dose of alcohol (Filbey et al., 2008). In this study, carriers of the long allele of the DRD4 VNTR had significantly greater neural response to alcohol taste cues (i.e., cue-exposure) in the orbitofrontal, cortex, anterior cingulate gyrus, and striatum prior to a priming dose of alcohol (i.e., cue-exposure), but not after a priming dose. These
