Our findings of loss of gray matter volume in the inferior temporal cortex (ITC) in the HR male group is important as the ITC is associated with socio-emotional processing and receives information from the visual cortex’s ventral stream, a region essential for recognizing patterns, faces, and objects (Creem and Proffitt, 2001). Additionally, the involvement of the ITC in the modulation of craving for alcohol in patients with alcohol use disorder (AUD) has been reported (Karch et al., 2015).
