The effects of reward and loss anticipation on attentional bias for reward-related stimuli.

Attentional biases for reward-related (e.g., food, alcohol) cues are moderated by the expectation of imminent reward availability, but the psychological mechanisms that underlie this effect are unclear.

Priming of conflicting motivational orientations in heavy drinkers: robust effects on self-report but not implicit measures.

We report results from three experimental studies that investigated the independence of approach and avoidance motivational orientations for alcohol, both of which operate within controlled and automatic cognitive processes. In order to prime their approach or avoidance motivational orientations, participants watched brief videos, the content of which (positive or negative depictions of alcohol, or neutral) varied by experimental group. Immediately after watching the videos, participants completed self-report (Approach and Avoidance of Alcohol Questionnaire; all studies) and implicit (visual probe task in study 1, stimulus-response compatibility task in studies 2 and 3) measures of alcohol-related approach and avoidance.