With the advent of noninvasive brain imaging techniques such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and electroencephalography (EEG), we can objectively determine the neural correlates of alcohol craving, highlighting the effects of reward and relief drinking in the brain. This may be achieved by investigating the resting-state and cue-reactive response of the brain to images of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages in patients with alcohol dependency using resting-state EEG and task-based fMRI. Previous studies have shown increased BOLD signal in response to alcohol-related cues in regions of the mesolimbic reward system such as NAcc, the ventral striatum (VS), and the amygdala (AMG)14,15. This was also accompanied by an increase in BOLD signal in other cortical regions, such as the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC), pregenual anterior cingulate cortex (pgACC), posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), orbital frontal cortex (OFC), precuneus, insula, and parahippocampus (PHC)16–18. These findings were consistent with studies reporting abnormal resting-state brain activity in alcohol-addicted patients after a period of abstinence. Several resting-state EEG studies report craving in alcohol addicts is related to increased spontaneous brain activity in the beta frequency
