Alcohol intoxication effects on visual perception: An fMRI study

Calhoun, Vince D.; Altschul, David; McGinty, Vince; Shih, Regina A.; Scott, David J.; Sears, Edie; Pearlson, Godfrey D.

doi:10.1002/hbm.20026

Cited by 5 publications

(7 citation statements)

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“…Consistent with this hypothesis, we observed diminished activation in the ALC (vs. PBO) condition to face stimuli (collapsing across the three face emotion types) in large regions of visual cortex and as well as bilateral fusiform gyrus, a region implicated in responding to human faces (Kanwisher et al, 1997; Kanwisher and Yovel, 2006). This result is consistent with prior studies that find that during visual stimulation tasks, alcohol diminishes activation in a visual perception network that encompasses large regions of visual cortex (Calhoun et al, 2004; Levin et al, 1998) as well as fusiform gyrus (Calhoun et al, 2004), though other studies have found a more complex pattern involving interactions between alcohol, brain region, and task (Van Horn et al, 2006). There are at least two pathways by which alcohol's effects on visual/face processing regions might diminish amygdala reactivity in response to threatening versus non-threatening faces.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

“…First, it is known that alcohol has vasodilatory effects (Volkow et al, 1988), which would be predicted to reduce BOLD responses, given otherwise equal underlying patterns of neuronal activation (Ogawa et al, 1990). This prediction is consistent with diminished activation in visual (Calhoun et al, 2004; Levin et al, 1998) and auditory cortex (Seifritz et al, 2000) in previous fMRI studies of alcohol challenge. In addition, alcohol might impact the onset, amplitude, or other aspects of the shape of the hemodynamic response function (HRF).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

“…We extracted BOLD signal responses (parameter estimates, β weights [arbitrary units, a.u]) from these amygdala ROIs (i.e., signal responses averaged across all voxels within the ROIs) in, the Threat versus Non-threat contrast as well as the individual contrasts of each emotion face (fearful, angry, happy) contrasted with the control task (matching shapes). Fourth, given prior findings that alcohol has fairly broad effects in modulating BOLD responses, especially in posterior regions of the brain including visual cortex (Calhoun et al, 2004; Levin et al, 1998), cerebellum, and posterior ventral temporal lobe (i.e., fusiform gyrus) (Calhoun et al, 2004), in whole brain voxel-wise analysis, we examined task-related activations to emotion faces (collapsing across face types) in the ALC versus PBO sessions. Fifth, given prior findings of enhanced activation in ventral striatum due to alcohol (>placebo) to neutral faces (Gilman et al, 2008), we hypothesized that alcohol might exert a similar effect in response to non-threatening happy faces in the present study and thus examined brain responses to happy faces in the ALC (>PBO) condition.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Effects of alcohol on brain responses to social signals of threat in humans

et al. 2011

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Alcohol is a known exogenous modulator of negative affect (anxiety, tension) in both animals and humans. It has been proposed that the anxiolytic effects of alcohol are mediated via the amygdala, an area critical to fear perception and responding. However, little is known about the acute effects of alcohol on amygdala reactivity to threatening information in humans. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging and a well validated task to probe amygdala responses to social signals of threat in 12 healthy, social drinkers after a double-blind crossover administration of alcohol or placebo. We found that alcohol significantly reduced amygdala reactivity to threat signals. The current findings fit well with the notion that alcohol may attenuate threat-based responding and provide a potential brain-based mechanism for the link between alcohol and anxiety, and/or social threat perception.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Effects of alcohol on brain responses to social signals of threat in humans

et al. 2011

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“…Different lines of evidence confirm the sensitivity of the visual system to moderate alcohol intoxication. fMRI studies show decreased activation of the visual areas under alcohol (Calhoun et al, 2004; Levin et al, 1998) and the strongest decrease in regional metabolism under alcohol is observed in occipital cortex (Wang et al, 2000). Furthermore, alcohol attenuates visual evoked potential amplitudes and contrast sensitivity (Marinkovic et al, 2004b; Pearson and Timney, 1998; Weschke and Niedeggen, 2012).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatio-temporal processing of words and nonwords: Hemispheric laterality and acute alcohol intoxication

et al. 2014

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This study examined neurofunctional correlates of reading by modulating semantic, lexical, and orthographic attributes of letter strings. It compared the spatio-temporal activity patterns elicited by real words (RW), pseudowords, orthographically regular, pronounceable nonwords (PN) that carry no meaning, and orthographically illegal, nonpronounceable nonwords (NN). A double-duty lexical decision paradigm instructed participants to detect RW while ignoring nonwords and to additionally respond to words that refer to animals (AW). Healthy social drinkers (N=22) participated in both alcohol (0.6 g/kg ethanol for men, 0.55 g/kg for women) and placebo conditions in a counterbalanced design. Whole-head MEG signals were analyzed with an anatomically-constrained MEG method. Simultaneously acquired ERPs confirm previous evidence. Spatio-temporal MEG estimates to RW and PN are consistent with the highly replicable left-lateralized ventral visual processing stream. However, the PN elicit weaker activity than other stimuli starting at ~230 ms and extending to the M400 (magnetic equivalent of N400) in the left lateral temporal area, indicating their reduced access to lexicosemantic stores. In contrast, the NN uniquely engage the right hemisphere during the M400. Increased demands on lexicosemantic access imposed by AW result in greater activity in the left temporal cortex starting at ~230 ms and persisting through the M400 and response preparation stages. Alcohol intoxication strongly attenuates early visual responses occipito-temporally overall. Subsequently, alcohol selectively affects the left prefrontal cortex as a function of orthographic and semantic dimensions, suggesting that it modulates the dynamics of the lexicosemantic processing in a top-down manner, by increasing difficulty of semantic retrieval.

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“…Alcohol-related crashes are the primary source of traffic fatalities, as evidenced by almost 17,000 deaths (nearly 40%) and 250,000 injuries in the year 2004 alone (NHTSA safety facts, 2004). Recently, several studies have illustrated the potential usefulness of simulated driving environments to evaluate brain function in combination with various pharmacologic challenges [Arnedt et al, 2001; Calhoun et al, 2004b; Deery and Fildes, 1999; Linnoila et al, 1973; Rimm et al, 1982; Verster et al, 2002]. However, to our knowledge, we are the first to have used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to probe temporal brain dynamics while driving under the influence of alcohol [Calhoun et al, 2002, 2004a, 2005].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Alcohol dose effects on brain circuits during simulated driving: An fMRI study

Meda

Calhoun

Astur

et al. 2008

Human Brain Mapping

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Driving while intoxicated remains a major public health hazard. Driving is a complex task involving simultaneous recruitment of multiple cognitive functions. The investigators studied the neural substrates of driving and their response to different blood alcohol concentrations (BACs), using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and a virtual reality driving simulator. We used independent component analysis (ICA) to isolate spatially independent and temporally correlated driving-related brain circuits in 40 healthy, adult moderate social drinkers. Each subject received three individualized, separate single-blind doses of beverage alcohol to produce BACs of 0.05% (moderate), 0.10% (high), or 0% (placebo). 3 T fMRI scanning and continuous behavioral measurement occurred during simulated driving. Brain function was assessed and compared using both ICA and a conventional general linear model (GLM) analysis. ICA results replicated and significantly extended our previous 1.5T study (Calhoun et al. [2004a]: Neuropsychopharmacology 29:2097-2017). GLM analysis revealed significant dose-related functional differences, complementing ICA data. Driving behaviors including opposite white line crossings and mean speed independently demonstrated significant dose-dependent changes. Behavior-based factors also predicted a frontal-basal-temporal circuit to be functionally impaired with alcohol dosage across baseline scaled, good versus poorly performing drivers. We report neural correlates of driving behavior and found dose-related spatio-temporal disruptions in critical driving-associated regions including the superior, middle and orbito frontal gyri, anterior cingulate, primary/supplementary motor areas, basal ganglia, and cerebellum. Overall, results suggest that alcohol (especially at high doses) causes significant impairment of both driving behavior and brain functionality related to motor planning and control, goal directedness, error monitoring, and memory.

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Alcohol intoxication effects on visual perception: An fMRI study

Cited by 5 publications

References 0 publications

Effects of alcohol on brain responses to social signals of threat in humans

Effects of alcohol on brain responses to social signals of threat in humans

Spatio-temporal processing of words and nonwords: Hemispheric laterality and acute alcohol intoxication

Alcohol dose effects on brain circuits during simulated driving: An fMRI study

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