Cognitive and emotional consequences of binge drinking: role of amygdala and prefrontal cortex

Abstract

Binge drinking is an increasingly recognized problem within the UK. We have studied the relationship of binge drinking to cognitive and emotional functioning in young adults, and have found evidence for increased impulsivity, impairments in spatial working memory and impaired emotional learning. Since in human studies it is difficult to understand whether such behavioural changes predate or are a consequence of binge drinking, we have also studied parallel behaviours in a rodent model, in which rats are exposed to intermittent episodes of alcohol consumption and withdrawal. In this model, and in parallel with our findings in human binge drinkers, and alcoholic patients who have undergone multiple episodes of detoxification, we have found evidence for impairments in aversive conditioning as well as increased impulsivity. These behavioural changes are accompanied by facilitated excitatory neurotransmission and reduced plasticity (long-term potentiation (LTP)) in amygdala and hippocampus. The impaired LTP is accompanied by both impaired associative learning and inappropriate generalization of previously learned associations to irrelevant stimuli. We propose that repeated episodes of withdrawal from alcohol induce aberrant neuronal plasticity that results in altered cognitive and emotional competences.

Impaired Decoding of Fear and Disgust Predicts Utilitarian Moral Judgment in Alcohol-Dependent Individuals

“…In the current sample, utilitarian bias extended to low-conflict personal dilemmas, which elicit deontological judgments in healthy subjects and even patients with impaired emotional processing (Koenigs et al, 2007;Moretto et al, 2010). Thus, the current sample of alcohol-dependent individuals appears to show relatively severe cognitive-affective deficits (Foisy et al, 2007;Stephens and Duka, 2008;Uekermann and Daum, 2008).…”

“…In the current study, these decoding deficits emerged as the key predictors of utilitarian choice on a subset of moral dilemmas. Poor emotional decoding is typically associated with deficits in aversive conditioning (Borlikova et al, 2006;Stephens and Duka, 2008) and may render alcohol-dependent individuals less sensitive to the emotional consequences (e.g., causing personal harm) of utilitarian responding (Birbaumer et al, 2005;Gao et al, 2010). Indeed, individuals with difficulty identifying fear-inducing behaviors tend to judge these behaviors as more morally acceptable (Marsh and Cardinale, 2012).…”

“…Moreover, depression and anxiety levels in non-clinical samples are positively also associated with utilitarian choice (Bartels and Pizarro, 2011;Starcke et al, 2011;Youssef et al, 2012). Notably, alcohol-dependent patients exhibit depression and anxiety (Lai et al, 2012), impulse control problems (Mitchell et al, 2005;Stephens and Duka, 2008), poor emotion regulation, and emotional expression recognition (Foisy et al, 2007;Uekermann and Daum, 2008).…”

“…First, we hypothesized that alcohol-dependent individuals would deliver more utilitarian moral judgments on personal (emotionally salient) moral scenarios. Second, as utilitarian moral judgments of moral personal scenarios have been previously associated with impulsivity, altered mood states, and decoding affective deficits that are closely linked to alcohol dependence problems (Foisy et al, 2007;Lai et al, 2012;Stephens and Duka, 2008), we also hypothesized that high impulsivity, negative mood elevations, and poor affective decoding would significantly predict utilitarian choices in alcohol-dependent individuals. Specifically, based on our previous neural findings linking emotional processing with moral judgment (Koenigs et al, 2007;Verdejo-Garcia et al, 2012), we expected poor affective decoding to be the most significant predictor of utilitarian choices in alcohol-dependent individuals.…”

“…Together, these prior studies reveal a link between alcohol use and utilitarian moral judgment. This link may be due to the specific neurotoxic effects of alcohol on frontal lobe function (Beck et al, 2012;Stephens and Duka, 2008), associated with co-morbidities and cognitiveaffective deficits that contribute to moral judgment deficits. The primary aim of the current study was to identify key predictor variables of moral judgment deficits in alcohol dependence.…”