Department of Psychology, University of Cincinnati, 4150 Edwards Building One, PO Box 210376, Cincinnati, OH 45221, USA.
Alcohol Alcohol. 2011 Sep-Oct;46(5):547-52. doi: 10.1093/alcalc/agr066. Epub 2011 Jun 10.
Alcohol acutely reduces agitation and is widely used in social situations, but the neural substrates of emotion processing during its intoxication are not well understood. We examine whether alcohol's social stress dampening effect may be via reduced activity in the cortical systems that subserve awareness of bodily sensations, and are associated with affective distress.
Blood oxygen level-dependent activation was measured through 24 functional magnetic resonance imaging sessions in 12 healthy volunteers during an emotional face-processing task following ingestion of a moderate dose of alcohol and a placebo beverage.
Results revealed that bilateral anterior insula response to emotional faces was significantly attenuated following consumption of alcohol, when compared with placebo (clusters >1472 μl; corrected P < 0.05).
Attenuated response in the anterior insula after alcohol intake may explain some of the decreased interoceptive awareness described during intoxication.
酒精能迅速缓解激动情绪，在社交场合被广泛使用，但人们对其在醉酒状态下的情绪处理的神经基础还知之甚少。我们研究了酒精的这种社交压力抑制效应是否可能是通过降低了大脑皮层系统的活动来实现的，该系统负责感知身体感觉，并与情感痛苦有关。
在 12 名健康志愿者的 24 次功能性磁共振成像（fMRI）扫描中，在摄入适量酒精和安慰剂饮料后，通过情绪面孔处理任务来测量血氧水平依赖（BOLD）激活。
与安慰剂相比，酒精摄入后双侧前岛叶对情绪面孔的反应明显减弱（簇>1472 μl；校正后 P < 0.05）。
酒精摄入后前岛叶反应减弱可能解释了一些醉酒时描述的内感受性意识降低的原因。
