Effects of Social Context on the Neural Correlates of Cue Reactivity

描述(申请人提供)：背景：对于瘾君子来说，暴露在与毒品相关的刺激下会产生显著的情绪和动机反应，如愉悦和渴望，这会鼓励立即使用药物，并破坏戒除或控制药物使用的努力。最近的神经成像研究已经确定了一个大脑区域的分布式网络，这些区域对这种反应性有贡献。然而，所有研究的结果都令人恼火地不一致，部分原因可能是研究人员没有对影响药物渴望的心理背景给予足够的重视。在实验室之外，吸毒者的精神状态、可用物质的可获得性、社会环境以及遇到线索的环境背景可能会对药物线索的心理和行为反应做出重要贡献。描述这些因素的性质可能有助于解决现有文献中的差异，从而有助于阐明导致药物线索反应的神经底物及其在成瘾中的作用。具体目标：这项研究的首要目标是确定影响吸毒倾向的关键社会和背景因素。具体目标包括：(I)了解社会环境如何影响与线索反应相关的神经活动；(Ii)考察研究参与者的情绪和心理状态如何影响对线索暴露的反应；(Iii)预测线索暴露后的自我调节行为；以及(Iv)考察社会一致性是否会耗尽自我调节资源。这项研究将利用一种独特的电影资源，这些电影已经被严格的计算机编码，用于毒品、烟草和酒精的使用，以及社会背景、吸毒动机和人物特征。该数据库包括自1995年以来每年排名前100位的电影。每项研究的刺激材料将从数据库中仔细挑选。为了实现我们的研究目标，我们将使用功能磁共振成像。意义：因为接触毒品线索在药物使用和复发中起着突出的作用，了解导致这些反应的神经机制将提供对成瘾大脑的洞察。了解药物线索暴露的社会背景可能会对成瘾行为的治疗有所启发。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Background: For addicts, exposure to drug-relevant stimuli produces significant emotional and motivational reactions, such as pleasure and craving that encourage immediate substance use and undermine efforts to abstain or control drug use. Recent neuroimaging research has identified a distributed network of brain regions that contribute to this reactivity. However, results across studies have been vexingly inconsistent, perhaps in part because researchers have failed to pay sufficient attention to the psychological contexts that influence drug craving. Outside of the laboratory, the mental state of the addict, the availability of ready substances, the social environment, and the environmental context in which cues are encountered are likely to make vital contributions to psychological and behavioral reactions to drug cues. Delineating the nature of these factors may help resolve extant discrepancies in the literature, thereby helping to elucidate the neural substrates responsible for drug cue reactivity and their role in addiction. Specific Aims: The overarching goal of this research is to identify key social and contextual factors that affect the propensity to engage in drug-seeking behavior. Specific aims include (i) understanding how social context influences neural activity associated with cue reactivity (ii) examining how the emotional and mental state of research participants influences reactions to cue exposure, (iii) predicting self-regulatory behavior following cue exposure, and (iv) examining whether social conformity depletes self-regulatory resources. This research will make use of a unique resource of movies that have been rigorously computer-coded for drug, tobacco, and alcohol use, as well as for social context, drug use motivations, and character features. The database consists of the top 100 movies each year since 1995. The stimulus materials for each study will be carefully selected from the database. To accomplish our research goals, we will use functional magnetic resonance imaging. Significance: Because exposure to drug cues plays a prominent role in drug use and relapse, understanding the neural mechanisms that contribute to these reactions will provide insights into the addicted brain. Understanding the social context of drug cue exposure has the potential to illuminate treatment of addictive behaviors.