Alcohol use disorder and cannabis use disorder symptomatology in adolescents are differentially related to dysfunction in brain regions supporting face processing

Abstract

Despite extensive behavioral evidence of impairments in face processing and expression recognition in adults with alcohol or cannabis use disorders (AUD/CUD), neuroimaging findings have been inconsistent. Moreover, relatively little work has examined the relationship of AUD or CUD symptoms with face or expression processing within adolescents. Given the high prevalence of alcohol and cannabis use during adolescence, understanding how these usage behaviors interact with neural mechanisms supporting face and expression processing could have important implications for youth social and emotional functioning. In this study, adolescents (N = 104) responded to morphed fearful and happy expressions during fMRI and their level of AUD and/or CUD symptoms were related to the BOLD response data. We found that AUD and CUD symptom severity were both negatively related to responses to faces generally. However, whereas this relationship was shown for AUD within ventromedial prefrontal cortex and lingual gyrus, it was shown for CUD within rostromedial prefrontal cortex including anterior cingulate cortex. Additionally, AUD symptom levels were associated with differential responses within medial temporal pole and inferior parietal lobule as a function of expression. These results have potential implications for understanding the social and emotional functioning of adolescents with AUD and CUD symptoms.

Keywords: Adolescence; Alcohol; Cannabis; Expressions; Faces; fMRI.

Figure 1:. Regions showing significant effects of AUD and CUD symptoms on BOLD response to faces.

(A) Clusters within vmPFC and LG showing significant main effects of AUD symptoms on BOLD response to faces. (B) BOLD responses in these regions were significantly negatively correlated with AUDIT scores. (C) A cluster within rmPFC showing a significant main effect of CUD symptoms on BOLD response to faces. (D) BOLD response in this region was significantly negatively correlated with CUDIT scores. Plots depict partial correlations and adjusted residuals for each region, with dotted lines depicting the corresponding partial correlation coefficients (ρ). L=left hemisphere. *indicates partial correlations significant at p<.001.

Figure 2:. Regions showing a significant AUD symptoms-by-Expression interaction.

(A) Clusters within MTP and IPL showing a significant interaction between AUD symptoms and expression on BOLD response to faces. (B) Plots depict partial correlations and adjusted residuals for the differential BOLD response to Fear > Neutral and Happy > Neutral expressions in these regions and AUDIT scores. Dotted lines represent the associated partial correlation coefficients (ρ). L=left hemisphere. **indicates partial correlation values significant at p<.001; *indicates partial correlation values significant at p<.01.