Focusing on the hypothesis that alcohol dependence is accompanied by hypofrontality, we found that young adults with alcohol dependence, compared with healthy young adults, exhibited less response in the lateral OFC, mPFC, and DLPFC in response to monetary reward. In addition, alcohol dependence was associated with a greater negative functional connectivity (i.e., negative correlation in task-related response) between those prefrontal regions and the bilateral nucleus accumbens. Furthermore, suggesting blunted response to non-alcohol reward, young adults with alcohol dependence exhibited less response to monetary reward in the ventral striatum. Relevant to the pathophysiology of alcohol dependence, young adults with alcohol dependence exhibited associations between drinking characteristics and both mPFC response and mPFC-accumbens functional connectivity. Family history of alcohol dependence was related to less mPFC response, and drinking frequency was related to greater negative functional connectivity between the nucleus accumbens and the mPFC. Together, these findings suggest that function in frontostriatal reward circuitry is altered in alcohol dependence, with less response in key PFC regions, disrupted coordination between frontal regions and VS in response to non-alcohol rewards, and associations between drinking characteristics
