While this study was motivated by a desire to explore the frequency and pattern of visual cortex activity to drug-related cues among multiple substance-dependent populations—an area not yet explored in this focused manner—it was not intended to be a comprehensive investigation of brain regions involved in drug craving. Nor was it intended to place larger value on occipital cortex activity relative to other brain regions implicated in drug craving—including the ventral and dorsal striatum, as well as prefrontal regions including medial and orbital prefrontal cortex. Consequently we did not do a comprehensive analysis of all other brain regions that are activated, or potentially co-activated with the occipital lobe, which may be an informative future direction from the perspective of understanding the way in which substance-dependent individuals process drug cues.
