Relationship between temperament, resting state functional connectivity, and heavy drinking in cynomolgus and rhesus macaques

Alcohol consumption in the United States is unevenly distributed, with 64% of adults consuming alcohol but 8% meeting criteria for alcohol abuse. Many risk factors leading to excessive alcohol drinking have been identified, including aggressive and anxious temperaments, which can be studied in both human and non-human primate populations. The goal of these studies was to explore associations between temperament, connectivity at rest between the amygdala and prefrontal cortex, and heavy ethanol self-administration and intoxication. Specifically, this dissertation aimed to identify the functional brain network modulating aggressive, anxious, and inhibited temperaments at rest, to determine in-vivo neural correlates of risk for progression to heavy drinking, and to assess changes in aggressive behavior and functional connectivity following chronic ethanol consumption in rhesus and cynomolgus macaques using resting state functional connectivity magnetic resonance imaging (rs- fcMRI).