Cingulate hypoactivity in cocaine users during a GO-NOGO task as revealed by event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging

Abstract

Although extensive evidence exists for the reinforcing properties of drugs of abuse such as cocaine, relatively less research has addressed the functional neuroanatomical correlates of the cognitive sequelae of these drugs. We present a functional magnetic resonance imaging study of a GO-NOGO task in which successful performance required prepotent behaviors to be inhibited. Significant cingulate, pre-supplementary motor and insula hypoactivity was observed for both successful NOGOs and errors of commission in chronic cocaine users relative to cocaine-naive controls. This attenuated response, in the presence of comparable activation levels in other task-related cortical areas, suggests cortical and psychological specificity in the locus of drug abuse-related cognitive dysfunction. The results suggest that addiction may be accompanied by a disruption of brain structures critical for the higher-order, cognitive control of behavior.

Figure 1.

Subjects were presented with 1 Hz serial stream of alternating Xs and Ys (GO stimuli), all of which were responded to with a button press. Periodic lure presentations (NOGO stimuli) in which the target did not alternate required an inhibition of a response.

Figure 2.

Sagittal sections show midline regions involved in the inhibitory control task. Examination of successful inhibitions (left column) and failed inhibitions (right column) between cocaine using subjects (upper row) and control subjects (bottom row) demonstrate consistent regions of activation for both groups. However, smaller volumes of activation survive thresholding for cocaine subjects for these regions, consistent with significant hypoactivity for cocaine users in midline structures.

Figure 3.

Cocaine users were significantly hypoactive relative to controls for both successful inhibitions (red) and errors of commission (blue). Overlapping hypoactivity for these two conditions was observed in the anterior cingulate.