Consistent with this theory, functional neuroimaging studies also suggest a potential neurobiological endophenotype that could increase risk for developing an AUD in youth with dense familial histories. For example, FHP youth demonstrated different patterns of brain response during tasks of inhibition (20), judging facial expressions (15), gambling (21), and in response to affective stimuli (22) than FHN peers. Furthermore, a positive FH was linked to greater activation of the right superior parietal cortex (23) and lentiform nucleus and insular region (24) during spatial working memory (SWM), and less activation during a simple vigilance condition relative to SWM in cingulate and medial frontal gyri (25). Less activation in multiple areas of the prefrontal cortex was also observed during verbal working memory (26). Finally, FHP compared to FHN youth have shown abnormal patterns of functional connectivity between prefrontal cortices with posterior parietal areas (27), prefrontal and cerebellar regions (28), and nucleus accumbens and posterior parietal and sensorimotor cortex (29). However, to our knowledge, there are no studies examining whether patterns of functional brain activation in FHP youth are consistent with a neurodevelopmental delay hypothesis.
