Based on prior fMRI results which were obtained with smaller samples using two executive functioning tasks, we hypothesized that in the context of the emotional face recognition task, low LR subjects would demonstrate higher BOLD response contrast with placebo and lower values after alcohol, while the high LR individuals will show the opposite pattern. This may reflect a general pattern in low LR subjects of how they process information that also extends to emotional-based tasks, even after controlling for alcohol effects on cerebral blood flow (CBF) (Rickenbacher et al., 2011). This pattern was predicted in brain regions related to recognition and processing of emotional faces, such as emotion processing (e.g., insula and amygdala) and in top-down emotional processing control (e.g., medial prefrontal cortex and the anterior and perigenual cingulate). In that study LR group or LR group by placebo/alcohol condition differences were found in both right and left frontal, insula, and anterior cingulate regions.
