alcohol dependent patients show altered responses to alcohol related cues

Several studies demonstrated that alcohol dependent patients show altered responses to alcohol related cues. It is assumed that the regular association of these cues with the ingestion of alcohol leads to conditioned reactions, motivating reward or relief craving and instigating drug intake. A group of German investigators has reported on this phenomenon in the current issue of Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics. They used an innovative method for studying this issue: the measurement of startle reflex, which is the eyeblink response to a sudden loud noise, that is normally inhibited by a pleasant foreground and potentiated when unpleasant stimuli are presented. Thus, it is a reliable method to assess the affective valence of emotional stimuli without having to rely on the self-report of patients. Previous investigations with alcohol dependent patients have shown that an attenuation of the affect modulated startle reflex was demonstrated when patients were viewing alcohol associated pictures indicating an appetitive valence of the alcohol associated stimuli.