acute ethanol is to inhibit MSN output from associative striatum while disinhibiting output from sensorimotor striatum. These striatal subregions are part of larger circuits that control goal-directed, conscious actions (the associative circuit) and habitual, unconscious actions (the sensorimotor circuit). The combination of associative circuit inhibition and sensorimotor circuit activation could help to promote the learning and performance of habitual actions. Short- and long-term ethanol consumption reduces GABAergic synaptic responses in sensorimotor regions and exacerbates the imbalance in the output of associative and sensorimotor circuits (Cuzon Carlson et al., 2011; Wilcox et al., 2014) (Figure 3S).
