Cohen-Gilbert Julia E, Nickerson Lisa D, Sneider Jennifer T, Oot Emily N, Seraikas Anna M, Rohan Michael L, Silveri Marisa M
Neurodevelopmental Laboratory on Addictions and Mental Health, McLean Hospital, BelmontMA, United States.
Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, BostonMA, United States.
Front Psychol. 2017 Sep 22;8:1650. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01650. eCollection 2017.
The transition to college is associated with an increase in heavy episodic alcohol use, or binge drinking, during a time when the prefrontal cortex and prefrontal-limbic circuitry continue to mature. Traits associated with this immaturity, including impulsivity in emotional contexts, may contribute to risky and heavy episodic alcohol consumption. The current study used blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) multiband functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to assess brain activation during a task that required participants to ignore background images with positive, negative, or neutral emotional valence while performing an inhibitory control task (Go-NoGo). Subjects were 23 college freshmen (seven male, 18-20 years) who engaged in a range of drinking behavior (past 3 months' binge episodes range = 0-19, mean = 4.6, total drinks consumed range = 0-104, mean = 32.0). Brain activation on inhibitory trials (NoGo) was contrasted between negative and neutral conditions and between positive and neutral conditions using non-parametric testing (5000 permutations) and cluster-based thresholding ( = 2.3), ≤ 0.05 corrected. Results showed that a higher recent incidence of binge drinking was significantly associated with decreased activation of dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (DMPFC), and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), brain regions strongly implicated in executive functioning, during negative relative to neutral inhibitory trials. No significant associations between binge drinking and brain activation were observed for positive relative to neutral images. While task performance was not significantly associated with binge drinking in this sample, subjects with heavier recent binge drinking showed decreased recruitment of executive control regions under negative versus neutral distractor conditions. These findings suggest that in young adults with heavier recent binge drinking, processing of negative emotional images interferes more with inhibitory control neurocircuitry than in young adults who do not binge drink often. This pattern of altered frontal lobe activation associated with binge drinking may serve as an early marker of risk for future self-regulation deficits that could lead to problematic alcohol use. These findings underscore the importance of understanding the impact of emotion on cognitive control and associated brain functioning in binge drinking behaviors among young adults.
从高中向大学过渡的阶段，与在额叶前部皮质和额叶-边缘系统神经回路持续发育成熟期间，大量饮酒或狂饮行为的增加有关。与这种不成熟相关的特质，包括在情绪情境中的冲动性，可能会导致危险的大量饮酒行为。本研究使用血氧水平依赖（BOLD）多波段功能磁共振成像（fMRI）来评估在一项任务过程中的大脑激活情况，该任务要求参与者在执行抑制控制任务（Go-NoGo）时忽略具有正性、负性或中性情绪效价的背景图像。研究对象为23名大学新生（7名男性，年龄18 - 20岁），他们有一系列饮酒行为（过去3个月的狂饮发作次数范围 = 0 - 19，平均 = 4.6，饮酒总量范围 = 0 - 104，平均 = 32.0）。使用非参数检验（5000次排列）和基于簇的阈值设定（ = 2.3）对抑制试验（NoGo）中负性与中性条件之间以及正性与中性条件之间的大脑激活情况进行对比，校正后≤0.05。结果显示，与中性抑制试验相比，如果近期狂饮发生率较高，则在负性抑制试验期间，背外侧前额叶皮质（DLPFC）、背内侧前额叶皮质（DMPFC）和前扣带回皮质（ACC）（这些脑区与执行功能密切相关）的激活显著降低。对于正性图像与中性图像相比而言，未观察到狂饮与大脑激活之间存在显著关联。虽然在该样本中任务表现与狂饮没有显著关联，但近期狂饮量较大的受试者在负性与中性干扰条件下显示出执行控制区域的募集减少。这些发现表明，在近期狂饮量较大的年轻成年人中与不经常狂饮的年轻成年人相比，对负性情绪图像的处理对抑制控制神经回路的干扰更大。这种与狂饮相关的额叶激活改变模式可能是未来自我调节缺陷风险的早期标志，而这种缺陷可能导致酒精使用问题。这些发现强调了了解情绪对年轻成年人狂饮行为中认知控制及相关大脑功能影响的重要性。
