Wang W, et al. - In order to investigate the relationship of cue-elicited craving with changes in physiological arousal and the neural bases underlying the potential relationship, researchers studied cerebral cue-related activations in relation to differences in skin conductance responses (SCR) noted during alcohol vs neutral cue blocks in 61 non-dependent alcohol drinkers (30 men). During alcohol vs neutral cue exposure, they noted higher SCR. Compared with women, men displayed higher craving ratings despite no differences in drinking characteristics. The investigators noted a positive correlation between alcohol (vs neutral) cue-evoked craving and SCR among men but not women. Further, across subjects, they noted a positive correlation of thalamic cue activity with differences in SCR between alcohol and neutral cue blocks in men but not in women. Upon mediation analyses, the mediatory role of thalamic activity was suggested in the correlation between craving and SCR across men and women, and in men but not women alone. Findings thus confirm the physiological and neural correlates of alcohol cue response, and indicate important differences in the physiological and neural processes of cue-evoked craving by sex.