Influence of cue exposure on inhibitory control and brain activation in patients with alcohol dependence

Abstract

Alcohol dependence is a serious condition characterized by persistent desires to drink and unsuccessful efforts to control alcohol consumption despite the knowledge of dysfunction through the usage. The study at hand examined the influence of an alcohol exposure on inhibitory processes. Research provides evidence that trying to resist the temptation to drink exerts self-control, a limited resource which is used during all acts of inhibition. In line with this, studies demonstrate an impaired ability to regulate an already initiated response in alcohol-dependent and healthy subjects when confronted with alcohol-related stimuli. The related neuronal correlates in alcohol-dependent patients remain to be elucidated. The inhibition performance of 11 male alcohol-dependent patients during an alcohol exposure was compared with the task performance during a control condition. Behavioral data and neural brain activation during task performance were acquired by means of functional magnetic resonance imaging. The alcohol cue exposure led to subjectively stronger urges to drink which was accompanied by differential neural activation in amygdala and hippocampus. Moreover, the results revealed typical neural activation during inhibition performance across both conditions. Anyhow, we could not detect any behavioral deficits and only subtle neural differences between induction conditions during the performance of the inhibition task within the inferior frontal cortex. The results suggest that although the sample reports a subjectively stronger urge to drink after the alcohol cue exposure this effect was not strong enough to significantly impair task performance. Coherently, we discover only subtle differential brain activation between conditions during the inhibition task. In opposition to findings in literature our data do not reveal that an exposure to alcohol-related cues and thereby elicited cue reactivity results in impaired inhibition abilities.

Fluctuating Disinhibition: Implications for the Understanding and Treatment of Alcohol and Other Substance Use Disorders

“…For example, Muraven and Shmueli (49) found that when social drinkers were exposed to alcohol cues, they showed greater disinhibition than when exposed to neutral cues. A similar pattern of results was reported by Gauggel et al (50) in detoxified alcohol-dependent patients [although a subsequent study failed to replicate this (51)]. One explanation for these findings is that alcohol abusers have to engage self-control resources in order to resist their urge to drink alcohol when exposed to alcohol cues, and this leads to a depletion of self-control resources, which manifests as increased disinhibition.…”

Laboratory-induced cue reactivity among individuals with prescription opioid dependence

“…As an example of potential future applications for the current paradigm, cue reactivity paradigms have been successfully used to elucidate neural substrates and networks implicated in the craving response for an array of substances including nicotine, cocaine, and alcohol (Cunningham & Anastasio, 2013; Engelmann et al, 2012; Lou et al, 2012; Mainz et al, 2012; Schacht, Anton, & Myrick, 2013), as well as to examine potential gender differences in cue-elicited craving (Saladin et al, 2012). Further, these paradigms have demonstrated utility in predicting substance use behaviors – including self-initiated abstinence, latency to use, and relapse – among a variety of substance dependent populations (Conklin, Parzynski, Salkeld, Perkins, & Fonte, 2012; Fatseas et al, 2011; Garland, Carter, Ropes, & Howard, 2012; Shiffman et al, 2013).…”

Alcohol-related and negatively valenced cues increase motor and oculomotor disinhibition in social drinkers.

“…However, there are also some inconsistencies in the literature regarding the effects of alcohol cues on disinhibition. Attempts to replicate effects obtained with the in vivo “drink-sniffing” paradigm ( Muraven & Shmueli, 2006 ; Gauggel et al, 2010 ) have failed in both dependent ( Mainz et al, 2012 ) and nondependent populations ( Jones, Rose, Cole, & Field, 2013 ). In a study in which different cues were embedded in a stop-signal task, Nederkoorn, Baltus, Guerrieri, and Wiers (2009) reported no difference in disinhibition produced by alcohol-related, soft-drink, mildly erotic, or neutral cues, although they reported an overall impairment in disinhibition in heavy-drinking women.…”