The moderating influence of COMT Val158Met in this study could also be interpreted in light of evidence that Met carriers display reduced processing efficiency and/or heightened neurobehavioral responses when presented with emotionally evocative stimuli (Enoch, 2006; Heinz & Smolka, 2006). For instance, fMRI studies indicate that Met carriers show heightened BOLD responses to emotionally evocative stimuli as well as decreased performance on tasks requiring emotional processing (Heinz & Smolka, 2006; Turnbridge et al., 2006). Accordingly, associations of the Met variant with alcohol use have been speculated to involve motivational pathways specific to the regulation of negative affect (Bilder et al., 2004; Enoch, 2006). If Met carriers show heightened neurobiological responses to cues signaling negative affect and/or diminished capacity to disengage from negative emotional states, these scenarios could potentially increase the likelihood of alcohol use in the context of negative affect. While speculative, this interpretation could be viewed as consistent with the current finding that Met carriers showed stronger associations between implicit coping motives and alcohol consumption. Importantly, additional explanations for COMT effects cannot be ruled out. Functional imaging studies suggest
