Fede Samantha J, Harenski Carla L, Schaich Borg Jana, Sinnott-Armstrong Walter, Rao Vikram, Caldwell Brendan M, Nyalakanti Prashanth K, Koenigs Michael R, Decety Jean, Calhoun Vince D, Kiehl Kent A
University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA.
Mind Research Network, 1101 Yale Blvd NE, Albuquerque, NM, 87106, USA.
Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2016 Sep;233(17):3077-87. doi: 10.1007/s00213-016-4344-4. Epub 2016 Jul 12.
Stimulant use is a significant and prevalent problem, particularly in criminal populations. Previous studies found that cocaine and methamphetamine use is related to impairment in identifying emotions and empathy. Stimulant users also have abnormal neural structure and function of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), amygdala, and anterior (ACC) and posterior cingulate (PCC), regions implicated in moral decision-making. However, no research has studied the neural correlates of stimulant use and explicit moral processing in an incarcerated population.
Here, we examine how stimulant use affects sociomoral processing that might contribute to antisocial behavior. We predicted that vmPFC, amygdala, PCC, and ACC would show abnormal neural response during a moral processing task in incarcerated methamphetamine and cocaine users.
Incarcerated adult males (N = 211) were scanned with a mobile MRI system while completing a moral decision-making task. Lifetime drug use was assessed. Neural responses during moral processing were compared between users and non-users. The relationship between duration of use and neural function was also examined.
Incarcerated stimulant users showed less amygdala engagement than non-users during moral processing. Duration of stimulant use was negatively associated with activity in ACC and positively associated with vmPFC response during moral processing.
These results suggest a dynamic pattern of fronto-limbic moral processing related to stimulant use with deficits in both central motive and cognitive integration elements of biological moral processes theory. This increases our understanding of how drug use relates to moral processing in the brain in an ultra-high-risk population.
使用兴奋剂是一个严重且普遍的问题，尤其是在犯罪人群中。先前的研究发现，使用可卡因和甲基苯丙胺与识别情绪和同理心受损有关。兴奋剂使用者的腹内侧前额叶皮质（vmPFC）、杏仁核、前扣带回（ACC）和后扣带回（PCC）的神经结构和功能也存在异常，这些区域与道德决策有关。然而，尚无研究探讨在被监禁人群中使用兴奋剂与明确的道德加工之间的神经关联。
在此，我们研究使用兴奋剂如何影响可能导致反社会行为的社会道德加工。我们预测，在被监禁的甲基苯丙胺和可卡因使用者进行道德加工任务时，vmPFC、杏仁核、PCC和ACC会表现出异常的神经反应。
使用移动MRI系统对211名被监禁成年男性进行扫描，同时他们完成一项道德决策任务。评估其终生药物使用情况。比较使用者和非使用者在道德加工过程中的神经反应。还研究了使用持续时间与神经功能之间的关系。
在道德加工过程中，被监禁的兴奋剂使用者杏仁核的参与度低于非使用者。兴奋剂使用持续时间与道德加工过程中ACC的活动呈负相关，与vmPFC的反应呈正相关。
这些结果表明，与使用兴奋剂相关的额-边缘道德加工存在动态模式，这与生物道德过程理论的中心动机和认知整合要素均存在缺陷。这增进了我们对药物使用如何与超高风险人群大脑中的道德加工相关联的理解。
