on alcohol self-administration in the laboratory when measured immediately after the end of training. These results were replicated in the second study (no immediate effects on alcohol consumption, but a clear reduction in self-reported alcohol consumption at follow-up after 1 week). In the second study, the authors also examined what mediated the effects of the training on alcohol consumption, and they found that the reduction in drinking was mediated by changes in automatic affective associations for alcohol cues rather than the (predicted) improvements in response inhibition. These findings support theories of inhibitory devaluation, which suggests that a conflict between wanting to respond to positive stimuli but having to inhibit is resolved by a devaluation of these stimuli (102, 103). This phenomenon has been applied to other hedonic stimuli such as food (104) and sexual images (105).
