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. 2012 Apr 1;122(1-2):112-8.
doi: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2011.09.018. Epub 2011 Oct 10.

Cognitive control links alcohol use, trait disinhibition, and reduced cognitive capacity: Evidence for medial prefrontal cortex dysregulation during reward-seeking behavior

Tim Bogg  1 , Rena Fukunaga, Peter R Finn, Joshua W Brown
Affiliations

Cognitive control links alcohol use, trait disinhibition, and reduced cognitive capacity: Evidence for medial prefrontal cortex dysregulation during reward-seeking behavior

Tim Bogg et al. Drug Alcohol Depend. .

Abstract

Background: Guided by the prediction of response-outcome theory of cognitive control (Alexander and Brown, 2010a), the present study examined reward-seeking medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) activity as a common neuro-functional marker of excessive alcohol consumption, trait disinhibition, and reduced cognitive capacity; all of which have shown consistent patterns of covariation in previous psychometric research (e.g., Bogg and Finn, 2010).

Methods: A sample of 18-23-year-old university students with a heterogeneous prevalence of alcohol dependence was assessed with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while completing a version of the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (Lejuez et al., 2002). A follow-back typical weekly alcohol consumption interview, self-report measures of trait disinhibition and IQ, and a complex span working memory task also were administered.

Results: Correlational region-of-interest analyses showed greater typical weekly alcohol consumption, greater trait disinhibition, and lower IQ were associated with greater reductions in mPFC activity during reward-seeking behaviors (successive inflation choices). The results also showed greater typical weekly alcohol consumption, greater trait disinhibition, and lower IQ were associated with greater increases in mPFC activity during reward-seeking outcomes (successive successful inflation outcomes). No significant relations with the measure of working memory were found.

Conclusions: The findings suggest mPFC activity during risk/reward appraisal and performance monitoring is a common neuro-functional feature of co-varying expressions of excessive alcohol consumption, trait disinhibition, and lower IQ.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Overview of Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART) procedure and presentation.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Clusters of medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) showing decreased or increased activity as a function of the probability of balloon explosion for choices to inflate and successful inflation outcomes. The cluster on the left in blue shows a region with significant negative loading on the parametrically modulated regressor of InflationChoice * P(explode). The cluster on the right in green shows a region with significant positive loading on the parametrically modulated regressor of SuccessfulInflation * P(explode).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Scatter plots for the correlations between the ROI clusters of the mPFC/ACC identified during choices to inflate and successful inflation outcomes and the scores for typical weekly alcohol use (Panel A), trait disinhibition (Panel B), and IQ (Panel C).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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    1. Alexander WH, Brown JW. Medial prefrontal cortex as an action-outcome predictor. Nature Neurosci. in press. - PMC - PubMed
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