Which statement best describes cue reactivity in addiction?

• A. Decreased cue salience
• B. Enhanced learning of drug-associated cues
• C. Global suppression of cue processing
• D. No change in cue processing

Answer: (B)

Cue reactivity in addiction reflects how environmental cues paired with drug use become powerful triggers through associative learning. With repeated drug–cue pairings, cues acquire incentive salience—they become predictors of the drug’s effects and come to demand attention, eliciting craving and drug-seeking even when no drug is present. This is why the statement that best describes cue reactivity is that drug-associated cues undergo enhanced learning, gaining strong motivational significance.

The other ideas don’t fit because they suggest cues become less noticeable, suppressed, or unchanged, which contradicts the robust evidence that specific drug-related cues increase craving, physiological arousal, and approach behavior.