To investigate the mechanisms of association between alcohol dependence and altered neural response among problem drinkers, we conducted regression analyses with drinking characteristics as regressors. All analyses were conducted within the alcohol dependent group, and they focused on the ROI clusters that emerged from group-difference analyses above. This way, we could examine brain-behavior associations that were relevant to group differences. Age was included as a covariate in these analyses, as it was related to several drinking characteristics (e.g., older participants had spent a greater number of years drinking; r = .82 for years drinking, .45 for drinks per use, .45 for frequency of use, .46 for severity, all ps<.03). A positive family history of alcohol dependence was associated with low response in anterodorsal cingulate subregion of the mPFC (Table 3; Figure 4).
