Effects of Social Context on the Neural Correlates of Cue Reactivity

描述（由申请人提供）：背景：对于成瘾者，暴露于药物相关的刺激会产生显著的情绪和动机反应，如快乐和渴望，鼓励立即使用药物，并破坏戒断或控制药物使用的努力。最近的神经影像学研究已经确定了一个分布式网络的大脑区域，有助于这种反应。然而，令人烦恼的是，不同研究的结果并不一致，部分原因可能是研究人员未能对影响药物渴望的心理背景给予足够的关注。在实验室之外，成瘾者的精神状态、现成物质的可用性、社会环境以及遇到线索的环境背景可能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存的文献中的差异，从而有助于阐明负责药物线索反应性及其在成瘾中的作用的神经基质。具体目标：本研究的总体目标是确定影响吸毒行为倾向的关键社会和背景因素。具体目标包括：（i）了解社会背景如何影响与线索反应相关的神经活动;（ii）研究参与者的情绪和精神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;（iv）研究社会从众是否耗尽自我调节资源。这项研究将利用一个独特的资源，电影已严格的计算机编码的药物，烟草和酒精的使用，以及社会背景，吸毒的动机，和性格特征。该数据库包括自1995年以来每年的前100部电影。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，我们将使用功能性磁共振成像。重要性：由于暴露于药物线索在药物使用和复发中起着重要作用，因此了解导致这些反应的神经机制将有助于深入了解成瘾的大脑。了解药物线索暴露的社会背景有可能照亮成瘾行为的治疗。

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.