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Abstract
Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is a chronic, relapsing brain disease in which individuals compulsively seek alcohol. Extant literature has increasingly recognized the importance of executive functions in AUD, though few studies have attempted to identify resting state functional connectivity substrates for executive dysfunction in AUD. The current study used a case-control design to investigate differences in latent executive function and within and between network connectivity in the executive control (ECN) and default mode (DMN) networks for individuals with AUD (63) and a control group (60). The study also aimed to determine whether within and between network connectivity was mechanistically important in the association between AUD and executive function. It was hypothesized that the AUD group would exhibit worse EF performance, weaker within and between network connectivity, and that functional connectivity would mediate the association between AUD and worse executive function performance. In contrast of hypotheses, EF did not significantly differ between groups, within and between ECN and DMN connectivity were not significantly associated with latent EF, and there were no significant indirect effects via within or between ECN and DMN connectivity. We did find, however, that the ECN was significantly associated with AUD status. There were also two noteworthy incidental findings. First, processing speed was significantly associated with AUD status, with the AUD group demonstrating slower processing speed performance. Second, follow-up analyses demonstrated sex differences in within and between ECN and DMN connectivity. Overall, it seems that though the ECN is related to AUD, functional connectivity alone cannot account for variability and complexity of cognitive outcomes associated with AUD. This highlights the need for continued research that attempts to clarify factors that influence outcomes associated with AUD.