Amygdala Processes and Early Habitual Drinking

描述（由申请人提供）：习惯性饮酒是酒精依赖的前驱症状。在酒精依赖的发病机制中，认知控制障碍是习惯性酒精寻求和消费的基础。先前的研究已经提供了充分的证据证明酒精依赖患者的认知控制受损。然而，不依赖酒精的习惯性饮酒个体是否表现出这种缺陷尚不清楚。特别是，感觉寻求和冒险在非依赖个体习惯性饮酒的形成中有一定的影响。行为研究也支持这些人格特征和饮酒之间的联系。另一方面，与冒险相关的神经过程是否会在习惯性饮酒的非依赖性个体中发生特异性改变，我们知之甚少。特别是，据我们所知，还没有研究检验并直接比较了同一非依赖性人群中认知控制和风险承担的神经基质。目前的建议试图通过结合功能性磁共振成像（fMRI）和停止信号任务作为认知代理来分离认知控制和风险承担的皮层和皮层下底物来探索这些问题。我们之前的工作强调了内侧前额叶结构在认知控制中的作用，以及杏仁核在停止信号任务中承担风险的作用，从而为研究这些问题提供了一个独特的平台。通过比较非酒精依赖的大学生习惯性饮酒和那些不饮酒或少量饮酒的大学生，我们希望阐明潜在的习惯性饮酒和潜在的介导习惯性饮酒向酒精依赖转变的关键神经过程。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Habitual alcohol use is prodromal to alcohol dependence. It has been suggested that impairment in cognitive control underlies habitual alcohol seeking and consumption in the pathogenesis of alcohol dependence. Previous studies have provided ample evidence for impaired cognitive control in patients with alcohol dependence. However, whether non-dependent individuals who habitually consume alcohol demonstrate such deficits are unclear. In particular, sensation seeking and risk taking has been implicated in the shaping of habitual drinking in non-dependent individuals. Behavioral studies have also supported an association between these personality traits and alcohol consumption. Little is known, on the other hand, whether neural processes associated with risk taking is specifically altered in non-dependent individuals who habitually consume alcohol. In particular, no studies to our knowledge have examined and directly compared the neural substrates of cognitive control and risk taking in the same non-dependent populations. The current proposal attempts to explore these questions by combining functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and the stop signal task as a cognitive proxy to isolate the cortical and subcortical substrates of cognitive control and risk taking. Our previous work highlighted a role of the medial prefrontal structures in cognitive control and the amygdala in risk taking during the stop signal task and thus provided a unique platform to pursue these questions. By comparing non-alcohol dependent college students who habitually consume alcohol and those who are non- or light-drinkers, we hope to elucidate the key neural processes that underlie habitual alcohol use and potentially mediate the transition of habitual drinking to alcohol dependence. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Habitual alcohol use is prodromal to alcohol dependence and it has been suggested that risk taking plays a critical role in shaping habitual drinking in non-dependent individuals. However, little is known about which brain processes contribute to risk taking in non-dependent individuals who habitually consume alcohol. The current proposal combines a brain imaging technique and a cognitive paradigm to answer this question.