Psychological Neuroscience Laboratory (PNL), Research Center in Psychology (CIPsi), School of Psychology, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal.
Department of Experimental Psychology, Complutense University of Madrid (UCM), Madrid, Spain.
Addict Biol. 2022 Mar;27(2):e13152. doi: 10.1111/adb.13152.
Alcohol attentional bias has been pointed as a major marker of alcohol misuse. Recent evidence has revealed that brain functional connectivity (FC) may be a valuable index of the brain networks' integrity in young binge drinkers (BDs). However, there is no study to date examining the FC networks linked to the processing of alcohol-related images in this population. The present study aimed to explore the FC signatures underlying alcohol attention bias in young BDs. Thus, electroencephalographic (EEG) activity was recorded in 54 college students (55.5% females; 27 non/low-drinkers and 27 BDs) while performing a visual alcohol cue-reactivity task. We evaluated whole-brain FC profiles during the processing of alcoholic and non-alcoholic cues, as well as their potential relationship with craving and severity of alcohol use. Results showed that, at the behavioural level, BDs rated alcohol-related images as more pleasant/attractive than non/low-drinkers. Furthermore, at the electrophysiological level, BDs exhibited increased beta-band FC-particularly in the fronto-parieto-occipital network-when processing alcoholic cues. Conversely, they displayed reduced theta-band FC relatively to non/low-drinkers for non-alcoholic images. These hyper-/hypo-connectivity patterns were associated with higher alcohol craving levels. Findings are congruent with previous neurofunctional studies reporting an attentional bias towards alcohol-related information in BDs. These results may have important clinical implications as this neural reactivity to alcoholic cues may contribute to the maintenance and/or escalation of the drinking pattern. Finally, the present study constitutes the first evidence showing that FC networks may be a sensitive indicator to alcohol attentional bias in BDs.
酒精注意偏向已被指出是酒精滥用的一个主要标志。最近的证据表明，脑功能连接（FC）可能是衡量年轻 binge drinkers（BDs）大脑网络完整性的一个有价值的指标。然而，目前尚无研究检查与该人群处理酒精相关图像相关的 FC 网络。本研究旨在探索年轻 BDs 中酒精注意偏向的 FC 特征。因此，在 54 名大学生（55.5%为女性；27 名非/低饮酒者和 27 名 BDs）中记录了脑电图（EEG）活动，同时进行视觉酒精线索反应性任务。我们评估了在处理酒精和非酒精线索时的全脑 FC 谱，以及它们与渴望和酒精使用严重程度的潜在关系。结果表明，在行为水平上，BDs 认为与酒精相关的图像比非/低饮酒者更令人愉悦/吸引人。此外，在电生理水平上，BDs 在处理酒精线索时表现出增加的β波段 FC-特别是在额顶枕颞网络中。相反，与非/低饮酒者相比，他们对非酒精图像表现出减少的θ波段 FC。这些超/低连接模式与更高的酒精渴望水平有关。这些发现与之前报告 BDs 对酒精相关信息存在注意力偏向的神经功能研究结果一致。这些结果可能具有重要的临床意义，因为这种对酒精线索的神经反应可能有助于维持和/或加剧饮酒模式。最后，本研究首次证明 FC 网络可能是 BDs 中酒精注意偏向的敏感指标。
