Notably, we did not find that alcohol dependent adults differed from healthy adults in the response or functional connectivity of the medial OFC. Given the putative role of medial OFC in representing reward value [49], it is possible that our paradigm, with its fixed reward values, did not elicit meaningful differences related to alcohol dependence. The presence of findings for lateral but not medial OFC supports the value of considering these subregions of OFC separately. In addition, our findings for mPFC underscore the importance of considering the medial OFC (or ventral mPFC) distinct from the mPFC, as the two regions differ functionally and have distinct patterns of connectivity with the striatum [8]. Alternatively, alcohol dependence might be more strongly associated with altered function in prefrontal regions with a role in regulating or promoting flexibility in behavior.
