Neural correlates of inhibitory control are associated with stimulant-like effects of alcohol.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Weafer J
PROVIDER: S-EPMC8208996 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:Individuals who experience greater stimulation and less sedation from alcohol are at increased risk for alcohol-related problems. However, little is known regarding the neurobiological mechanisms underlying subjective response to alcohol. The current study examined the degree to which alcohol-induced brain activation correlates with ratings of stimulation and sedation, using a within-subjects, double-blind, placebo-controlled design. Participants (N?=?34 healthy adults with no history of alcohol use disorder) completed three sessions: a calibration session to determine the duration of infusion needed to bring the breath alcohol to 80?mg/dl for each subject, and two counterbalanced fMRI sessions with placebo and alcohol administration. During the fMRI sessions, participants underwent 50?min scans, which included a 10?min baseline period, the IV infusion period needed to bring breath alcohol concentration (BrAC) to a peak 80?mg/dl (on the alcohol session), followed by a post-peak decline period. Participants rated their subjective stimulation and sedation at regular intervals throughout the scan. A priori VOI analyses showed that the time course of stimulation correlated with BOLD signal in the striatum. The time course of sedation did not correlate with BOLD signal in any VOIs. There were no correlations in primary visual cortex, which served as a control. These findings are the first to show that alcohol effects in the striatum are linked to the positive, stimulant-like effects of the drug and advance our understanding of the neurobiological mechanisms underlying individual differences in subjective responses to alcohol, and more broadly, risk for alcohol use disorders.
| S-EPMC6224577 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundStimulant drugs such as cocaine and amphetamine have a high abuse liability, but not everyone who uses them develops dependence. However, the risk for dependence is increased for individuals with a family history of addiction. We hypothesized that individuals without a family history of dependence who have been using cocaine recreationally for several years but have not made the transition to dependence will differ in terms of personality traits and brain structure from individuals who are either dependent on stimulants or at risk for dependence.MethodsWe compared 27 individuals without a familial risk of dependence who had been using cocaine recreationally with 50 adults with stimulant dependence, their nondependent siblings (n = 50), and unrelated healthy volunteers (n = 52) who had neither a personal nor a family history of dependence. All participants underwent a magnetic resonance imaging brain scan and completed a selection of personality measures that have been associated with substance abuse.ResultsIncreased sensation-seeking traits and abnormal orbitofrontal and parahippocampal volume were shared by individuals who were dependent on stimulant drugs or used cocaine recreationally. By contrast, increased levels of impulsive and compulsive personality traits and limbic-striatal enlargement were shared by stimulant-dependent individuals and their unaffected siblings.ConclusionsWe provide evidence for distinct neurobiological phenotypes that are either associated with familial vulnerability for dependence or with regular stimulant drug use. Our findings further suggest that some individuals with high sensation-seeking traits but no familial vulnerability for dependence are likely to use cocaine but may have relatively low risk for developing dependence.
| S-EPMC3705207 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The current study examined the association between effortful control and a well-studied neural index of self-regulation, the N2 event-related potential (ERP) component, in toddlers. Participants included 107 toddlers (44 girls) assessed at 30, 36 and 42 months of age. Participants completed a Go/NoGo task while electroencephalography data were recorded. The study focused on the N2 ERP component. Parent-reported effortful control was examined in association with the NoGo N2 ERP component. Findings suggest a positive association between the NoGo N2 component and the inhibitory control subscale of the wider effortful control dimension, suggesting that the N2 component may index processes associated with temperamental effortful control.This article is part of the theme issue 'Diverse perspectives on diversity: multi-disciplinary approaches to taxonomies of individual differences'.
| S-EPMC5832685 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Inhibitory control is crucial for regulating emotions and may also enable memory control. However, evidence for their shared neurobiological correlates is limited. Here, we report meta-analyses of neuroimaging studies on emotion regulation, or memory control and link neural commonalities to transcriptional commonalities using the Allen Human Brain Atlas (AHBA). Based on 95 functional magnetic resonance imaging studies, we reveal a role of the right inferior parietal lobule embedded in a frontal-parietal-insular network during emotion regulation and memory control, which is similarly recruited during response inhibition. These co-activation patterns also overlap with the networks associated with 'inhibition', 'cognitive control' and 'working memory' when consulting the Neurosynth. Using the AHBA, we demonstrate that emotion regulation- and memory control-related brain activity patterns are associated with transcriptional profiles of a specific set of 'inhibition-related' genes. Gene ontology enrichment analysis of these 'inhibition-related' genes reveal associations with the neuronal transmission and risk for major psychiatric disorders as well as seizures and alcoholic dependence. In summary, this study identified a neural network and a set of genes associated with inhibitory control across emotion regulation and memory control. These findings facilitate our understanding of the neurobiological correlates of inhibitory control and may contribute to the development of brain stimulation and pharmacological interventions.
| S-EPMC7328031 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Prior research has found that food addiction is associated with reward-related neural differences, but research has yet to examine whether there are also neural differences in inhibitory control. This may be particularly relevant during adolescence as it is a key developmental period where difficulties in inhibitory control are more prevalent. The Yale Food Addiction Scale is a self-report questionnaire that applies substance use disorder diagnostic criteria to certain foods that has also been adapted for children. Here we investigate the association between addictive-like eating and brain functioning during inhibitory control in youth. Seventy-six right-handed participants 8.2-17.8 years (44 male) were recruited. Participants performed a go/no-go task during functional magnetic resonance imaging and completed the Yale Food Addiction Scale for Children, after which they were categorized into two groups according to their scores (No Symptom Group = 0; YFAS-C Group: score ≥ 1). Inhibitory control was probed with a contrast of correct no-go versus go trials. An independent-samples t-test comparing groups revealed a significant difference in three primary clusters, all exclusively in the left hemisphere (No Symptom Group > YFAS-C Group): middle temporal gyrus/occipital gyrus, precuneus/calcarine sulcus, and inferior frontal gyrus. Specifically, the YFAS-C Group showed deactivation in all three clusters. Adolescents who endorse food addiction appear to show hypo-activation in response to the inhibitory control portion of a go/no-go task, which suggests possible inhibitory control difficulties.
| S-EPMC7024015 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundAlcohol abuse is a common and costly practice. Individuals high in negative urgency, the tendency to act rashly when experiencing negative emotions, are at particular risk for abusing alcohol. Alcohol abuse among individuals high in negative urgency may be due to (a) increased activity in the brain's striatum, (b) decreased activity in brain regions associated with self-control, or (c) a combination of the two.MethodsThirty eight non-alcohol-dependent participants completed a measure of negative urgency and then underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while passively viewing pleasant and alcohol images.ResultsAlcohol images (as compared to pleasant images) were associated with activation in the caudate nucleus, a brain region associated with linking reward to external stimuli. Negative urgency (above and beyond other facets of impulsivity) correlated positively with this caudate activation in response to alcohol images. Alcohol images and negative urgency were unassociated with activity in the lateral prefrontal cortex, a self-regulatory brain region.ConclusionsThese findings provide initial support that the alcohol abuse observed among individuals high in negative urgency may be due, in part, to heightened reactivity in the striatum to alcohol. Investigating such neural contributors to self-regulation failure is crucial to reducing substance abuse.
| S-EPMC7408295 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Poor inhibitory control and sensitivity to drug reward are two significant risk factors for drug abuse. Although the two have been largely viewed as separate and independent risk factors, there is new evidence to suggest that they may be related at both the behavioral and neural level. This study examined associations between behavioral and neural correlates of inhibitory control and sensitivity to the subjective rewarding effects of amphetamine in humans. Healthy volunteers (n=63) first completed the stop signal task, a behavioral measure of inhibitory control. Then they participated in four sessions in which they received amphetamine (20 mg) and placebo in alternating order, providing self-report measures of euphoria and arousal at regular intervals. Finally, a subset of participants (n=38) underwent an fMRI scan to assess neural correlates of inhibitory control. In the first phase of the study, participants with longer stop signal reaction time (SSRT) reported greater amphetamine-induced euphoria and stimulation than those with shorter SSRT. In the second phase, fMRI of response inhibition showed the expected activation in right prefrontal regions. Further, individuals who exhibited less activation in the right middle frontal gyrus during the inhibition task reported more euphoria during the amphetamine sessions. This study is the first to show associations between poor inhibitory control and amphetamine reward sensitivity at both behavioral and neural levels in humans. These findings extend our understanding of risk for drug abuse in individuals with poor inhibitory control and suggest novel targets for prevention efforts.
| S-EPMC5520786 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Whereas aerobic training has found to be beneficial for inhibitory control, less is known on the efficiency of other exercise types in children. The present study compared the effects of aerobic and coordinative training on behavioral and neurophysiological measures of inhibitory control. Forty-five children were randomly assigned (1:1:1 ratio) to groups performing aerobic training, coordinative training or assisted homework sessions over 10 weeks. Before and after intervention, all participants completed a Flanker task. The P300 component of event-related potentials elicited from the task was recorded via electroencephalography. Additionally, aerobic fitness and gross-motor skills were assessed using 20 m Shuttle Run and Heidelberg Gross-Motor Test, respectively. Statistical analyses revealed no time by group interactions for the P300 component (amplitude, latency), p = 0.976, η² = 0.007, and behavioral performance (reaction time, accuracy), p = 0.570, η² = 0.045. In contrast, there was a significant group-difference in pre- to post-test changes in aerobic fitness, p = 0.008, η² = 0.246, with greater improvements following aerobic and coordinative training compared to assisted homework sessions. In conclusion, no differences regarding the efficiency of aerobic and coordinative training for the enhancement of inhibitory control were found as both exercise programs failed to elicit changes in speed and accuracy of stimulus evaluation and the allocation of attentional resources.
| S-EPMC6406880 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BACKGROUND:Preclinical and emerging clinical evidence indicates that varenicline, a nicotinic partial agonist approved for smoking cessation, attenuates alcohol seeking and consumption. Reductions of alcohol craving have been observed under varenicline treatment and suggest effects of the medication on alcohol reward processing, but this hypothesis remains untested. METHODS:In this double-blind, placebo-controlled randomized experimental medicine study, 29 heavy drinkers underwent a functional magnetic resonance imaging scan after 2 weeks of varenicline (2mg/d) or placebo administration. During functional magnetic resonance imaging, participants performed the Alcohol-Food Incentive Delay task, where they could earn points for snacks or alcohol. At baseline and after 3 weeks of medication, participants underwent intravenous alcohol self-administration sessions in the laboratory. RESULTS:During the functional magnetic resonance imaging scan, participants in the varenicline group (N=17) reported lower feelings of happiness and excitement on subjective mood scales when anticipating alcohol reward compared with the placebo group (N=12). Linear mixed effects analysis revealed that anticipation of alcohol reward was associated with significant blood oxygen level dependent activation of the ventral striatum, amygdala, and posterior insula in the placebo group; this activation was attenuated in the varenicline group. The varenicline group showed no difference in intravenous alcohol self-administration relative to the placebo group for either session. Participants with higher insula activation when anticipating alcohol reward showed higher alcohol self-administration behavior across groups. CONCLUSIONS:Our findings suggest that varenicline decreases blood oxygen level dependent activation in striato-cortico-limbic regions associated with motivation and incentive salience of alcohol in heavy drinkers. This mechanism may underlie the clinical effectiveness of varenicline in reducing alcohol intake and indicates its potential utility as a pharmacotherapy for alcohol use disorders.
| S-EPMC4675979 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundIrritability, a relatively lowered threshold for anger, is prevalent in typically and atypically developing youths. Inhibitory control, the ability to suppress behaviors counter to goals, is essential for regulating emotions, including anger. Understanding how irritability relates to behavioral and neural markers of inhibitory control may inform interventions.MethodsYouths (N=52; mean age=13.78) completed a Flanker task on an iPad to measure behavioral correlates of inhibitory control; a subsample (n=19; mean age=13.21) additionally completed a similar task while undergoing fMRI acquisition to evaluate inhibitory control on a neural level. Irritability was measured using the Affective Reactivity Index. Associations between irritability and inhibitory control were evaluated behaviorally (via Pearson correlations), and neurally (via ANCOVAs with whole-brain activation and amygdala connectivity).ResultsfMRI results indicated that higher levels of irritability were associated with aberrant activation (in middle frontal gyrus, amygdala/parahippocampal gyrus, anterior cingulate, lentiform nucleus/striatum) and left amygdala connectivity (with middle temporal gyrus, parahippocampal gyrus, posterior cingulate, fusiform gyrus, and thalamus). Behavioral results were mixed.LimitationsLongitudinal studies are needed to characterize changes in neural circuitry and delineate whether the brain profiles precede or are a consequence of symptoms. Larger samples powered to examine multiple irritability-related symptom dimensions will be necessary to elucidate shared vs. disorder-specific irritability mechanisms.ConclusionsFindings suggest that pediatric irritability may be related to neural processes involving inhibitory control. Further, findings underscore the importance of neuroimaging in investigating symptom dimensions such as irritability, as neuroimaging may be more sensitive in detecting underlying abnormalities compared to behavioral data alone.
| S-EPMC7945044 | biostudies-literature