Developmentally, it is critical to examine alterations in PFC response to reward in alcohol dependence early in adulthood. Not only is this period early in the course of dependence, which provides greater opportunity to examine the development of addiction and less severity of the toxic effects of alcohol exposure [23], [24], but early adulthood is a window in which dopamine is exerting a decreasing influence on PFC function [25]. Low VS reponse to monetary reward has been reported in children of alcohol-dependent parents, indicating that this characteristic may be a risk factor for the development of alcohol-related problems [26]. In the PFC, it is especially important to investigate this issue during early adulthood because dopamine influence on PFC function changes across adult development, resulting in changes in function of reward circuitry as well as altered associations between dopamine synthesis and PFC function [25]. Specifically, with adult development, dopamine synthesis decreases in cortex but increases in dorsal striatum, and the shift toward greater dopamine synthesis in the dorsal caudate is associated with lower performance on executive function tasks [27]. These findings
