Environmental cues paired with ethanol can acquire motivational significance through Pavlovian conditioning and influence ethanol‑seeking and relapse‑related behaviors. However, the neural mechanisms underlying ethanol‑conditioned reinforcement remain poorly understood. Conditioned place preference (CPP) provides a useful model for examining how ethanol‑associated cues acquire and express reinforcing properties in the absence of the drug. In CPP, repeated pairings of ethanol with a distinct environmental context lead to a preference for that context, reflecting the rewarding effects of ethanol. The present studies use the CPP paradigm to investigate the neural and associative learning processes involved in the acquisition and expression of cue‑induced ethanol‑seeking behavior.
