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ABSTRACT. Objective: Family history (FH) of alcohol-use disorders (AUDs) has been associated with frontal lobe defi cits, more positive expectations for alcohol effects, and increased risk of developing AUDs. We tested the hypothesis that anterior brain regions mediate the relationship between FH of AUDs and alcohol expectancies in adolescents. Method: Nondrinking adolescents (N = 50) ages 12-14 completed measures of FH of AUDs, alcohol expectancies, and substance use and performed spatial working memory and vigilance tasks during functional magnetic resonance imaging. Results: Activation of the anterior cingulate signifi cantly predicted alcohol expectancies (R 2 Δ = 9%, β = .32, F change = 6.09, 1/43 df, p < .05). However, FH of AUDs was not associated with brain response or alcohol expectancies. Conclusions: Although a mediational model was not supported, activation in the anterior cingulate was linked to alcohol expectancies, such that adolescents with less neural differentiation to task demands had more positive expectancies for alcohol's effects. These results provide a greater understanding of the interrelations among risk factors for AUD and point to individuals who might be targeted for early, cognitively based interventions. (J. Stud. Alcohol Drugs 70: [87][88][89][90][91] 2009)

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Mediated communication in sociotechnical systems is quite common but the effects of long audio delays remain unexplored. In the current study, two-person teams (N=67) completed a modified NASA Multi-Attribute Task Battery with closed-loop audio communication delays 0 to 16 seconds in length. In addition to a joint fuel management task, each team member had simultaneous responsibility for either a compensatory tracking or a system monitoring task. As communication delay increased, performance on the joint task degraded in a cubic fashion while individual tasks were unaffected. These results imply that audio communication delay degrades team performance in a non-linear fashion while simultaneous tasks not requiring communication are unaffected. Implications for the design of sociotechnical systems with long audio communication delays are discussed.