Although we employed statistical control for the effect of age, given the crucial importance of age-related brain changes in AUD, it is important that future studies with larger samples and age-matched balanced designs account for these confounding factors and confirm the current findings. Similarly, owing to recent equivocal findings on the effect of level of education on brain structure and function after controlling for IQ at age eleven (e.g., Cox et al., 2016), the effect of level of education was not controlled to avoid possible model-fitting errors. However, appropriate measures of intelligence should also be used to control for its effects to confirm the current findings. Other substance use in individuals with AUD without meeting criteria for substance use disorder is often observed as part of their clinical profile, including in the present sample. While it was beyond the scope of the present study, future studies should also control for other substance use in large clinical samples, and/or in more controlled animal studies to confirm the current findings. Some of the interpretations made in the present study are speculative in
