Background Many studies employed cue exposure paradigms to investigate the neural
processes underlying cue-elicited alcohol craving. Cue exposure elicits robust autonomic
reactivity. However, whether or how cue-elicited autonomic response relates to the severity
of alcohol misuse and the neural bases underlying the potential relationship remain unclear.
Methods We examined cue-related brain activations in association with heart rate variability,
as indexed by the root mean square of the successive differences (RMSSD), during alcohol …