All the subjects were right handed and had at least a minimum of ten years of education. In the alcohol dependent group, some subjects also had a history of other substance abuse. This comorbid poly-substance use/abuse is commonly observed in alcohol dependent subjects, especially in the US population (Bierut et al., 1998; Compton et al., 2007; Hasin et al., 2007). Assessments, recordings and analyses were conducted at the State University of New York – Downstate Medical Center and the study was approved by the Institutional Review Board (IRB).
