recruited through advertisements and screened to exclude any personal or family history of major medical, psychiatric, or substance-related disorders. None of the participants from the control group ever met the diagnosis of substance dependence or abuse (DSM-IV), although some of the control participants (n = 12) were light/regular drinkers and had used alcohol in the last 6 months (n = 18) (see Table 1 for details). All participants were asked to abstain from alcohol and other drugs for 5 days prior to MRI scans. A modified version of the semi-structured assessment of genetics of alcoholism (SSAGA) [61] was administered to assess alcohol/substance use and related co-existing disorders and family history of these disorders. The majority of subjects were right-handed, with only a few who were either left-handed (5 in the AUD group and 2 in the CTL group) or bi-dexterous (2 in the AUD group and 1 in the CTL group). Clinical and psychometric data were collected at the SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University, while the fMRI data were acquired at the Nathan Kline Institute (NKI) for Psychiatric Research. Standard MRI protocols and exclusion criteria (implants, tattoos, cosmetics, claustrophobia, etc.) were used to ensure subjects’ safety and the quality of
