Pavlovian cues and alcohol use: translating brain science to understand risk for problematic drinking
Official title: A translational human laboratory Pavlovian conditioning model of individual differences in risk for alcohol cue incentive salience sensitization and longitudinal assessment of problematic alcohol use
Funded at University of Missouri-Columbia · NIH-11384811 · Data updated 2026-11-12
A clinician-relevant study tests how people’s brains assign importance to alcohol cues and whether this linked brain process relates to risky drinking behavior.
Quick facts
| Grant type | NIH-funded research |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | University of Missouri-Columbia NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Columbia, United States) |
| Project start | August 25, 2024 |
| Project end | July 31, 2027 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $240,335 |
| NIH project number | 5R00AA029169-05 |
| Project ID | NIH-11384811 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Adults 21 years and older who may be at risk for or currently experience alcohol use problems.
✕Less likely to help
Healthy individuals with no risk factors or current alcohol problems may not directly benefit from this study.
What this research studies
This program combines preclinical and human lab work to see how incentive salience to alcohol cues may influence drinking risk. Researchers will translate findings from animal models into a human lab model to study individual differences in cue-driven motivation for alcohol. The project includes training in alcohol administration, cognitive neuroscience, and functional brain imaging to understand why some people develop problematic use. Over three years, the team will collect data on how cues influence craving and drinking behavior in healthy volunteers and/or individuals with alcohol use tendencies. The goal is to identify neurobehavioral markers that could guide prevention and early intervention.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, findings could help tailor prevention and early treatment strategies by identifying who is most at risk based on brain–behavior responses to alcohol cues.
How similar studies have gone: Prior work suggests cue-related brain processes influence drinking behavior, supporting the potential value of this translational approach.
Where this research is happening
-
University of Missouri-Columbia
Columbia, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Cofresi, Roberto U — University of Missouri-Columbia
- Study coordinator: Cofresi, Roberto U
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About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.