These limitations considered, the current findings are among the first to evaluate genetic associations with implicit alcohol cognitions. One avenue for future studies is to consider additional variants implicated in working memory, attentional processing and response inhibition (Bellgrove & Mattingley, 2008; Goldberg & Weinberger, 2004), as well those relevant for alcohol-related reward and/or sensitivity, in the context of dual process models. Notably, contemporary models of addiction propose that repeated drug use renders behavior increasingly responsive to reflexive processes and less amenable to the influence of inhibitory control networks (Baler & Volkow, 2006). Therefore, an interesting prospect for future work is to evaluate, prospectively, whether genetic variants moderate the development of drug-related reflexive cognitive processes as a function of repeated drug exposure. Finally, it is anticipated that the refinement of dual process models of addiction will be informative for interventions, which could potentially seek to alter the salience of reflexive drug-related cognitions or mitigate their impact by strengthening executive control processes (e.g., Houben et al., 2010; Volkow et al., 2010) Characterizing genetic influences in this context could aid in studying neurobiological processes that may be relevant for treatment development and response.
