Using Neuroeconomics to Understand Alcohol Overvaluation in Alcohol Use Disorder

Alcohol use disorder (AUD) confers a massive public health burden and clinical advances are predicated on more basic advances in biobehavioral research. Neuroeconomics is a novel approach to understanding the neuroscience of decision making and has particular relevance to AUD. The proposed research seeks to apply a neuroeconomic approach to understand three aspects of AUD: a) how the brain represents the value of alcohol in individuals with AUD compared to matched control participants (Study #1); b) how the brain represents a dynamic increase in the value of alcohol as a result of acute stress in individuals with AUD; and c) which patterns of neural activity during decision making about the value of alcohol predict response to a four- session motivational intervention.