3 s. The four conditions were (a) alcohol condition (images of alcohol beverages), (b) beverage condition (images of non-alcoholic beverages), (c) control condition (unidentifiably scrambled images of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages), and (d) fix condition (image of a fixation cross). Patients were instructed to focus on the visually presented stimuli throughout the entire experiment in the MRI machine. Numerous studies have used a cue-reactivity paradigm, which exposes subjects to drug-related stimuli, while monitoring their physiological responses to investigate addictive behavior. A meta-analysis of the cue-reactivity paradigm suggests it can generate a stable profile of significant addict-related effects61. To improve our understanding of alcohol addictive behavior, establish treatment for active alcohol users, and prevent relapse, it is important to understand the neurobiological mechanism that underpins alcohol-related behavior.
