The induction of alcohol craving and the cognitive processing of alcohol-related stimuli in alcohol-dependent
patients have been reported to compete with inhibitory control and contribute to alcohol relapse. The aim of the
present study is to investigate whether the induction of a craving state, using an alcohol cue exposure paradigm,
influences response inhibition towards both neutral stimuli and alcohol-related stimuli in alcohol-dependent
patients. Thirty-one detoxified alcohol-dependent patients were exposed to either their preferred alcoholic
beverage or to a glass of water. They then performed a modified stop signal task, which used alcohol-related
words, neutral words and non-words, and a lexical decision as the Go response. The alcohol-cue exposure group
reported significantly higher alcohol craving and showed higher percentages of commission errors towards
alcohol-related words than the control group. All participants, but especially those of the alcohol-cue exposure
group, showed also shorter reaction times when alcohol words were used as targets in go trials. The induction of
alcohol craving in detoxified alcohol-dependent patients increases the motivational salience value of alcohol
stimuli, leading them to automatically approach alcohol-related cues and therefore impairing response
inhibition towards those stimuli.