title: Abnormal affective decision making revealed in adolescent binge drinkers using a functional magnetic resonance imaging study.
abstract: The goal of this study was to investigate the neural correlates of affective decision making, as measured by the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), which are associated with adolescent binge drinking. Fourteen adolescent binge drinkers (16-18 years of age) and 14 age-matched adolescents who had never consumed alcohol--never drinkers--were recruited from local high schools in Chengdu, China. Questionnaires were used to assess academic performance, drinking experience, and urgency. Brain regions activated by the IGT performance were identified with functional magnetic resonance imaging. Results showed that, compared to never drinkers, binge drinkers performed worse on the IGT and showed higher activity in the subcomponents of the decision-making neural circuitry implicated in the execution of emotional and incentive-related behaviors, namely, the left amygdala and insula bilaterally. Moreover, measures of the severity of drinking problems in real life, as well as high urgency scores, were associated with increased activity within the insula, combined with decreased activity within the orbitofrontal cortex. These results suggest that hyperreactivity of a neural system implicated in the execution of emotional and incentive-related behaviors can be associated with socially undesirable behaviors, such as binge drinking, among adolescents. These findings have social implications because they potentially reveal underlying neural mechanisms for making poor decisions, which may increase an individual's risk and vulnerability for alcoholism.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Dana and David Dornsife Cognitive Neuroscience Imaging Center, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089-2520, USA. linxiao@usc.edu
authors.forename: Lin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Xiao
authors.forename: Antoine
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bechara
authors.forename: Qiyong
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Gong
authors.forename: Xiaoqi
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Xiangrui
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Gui
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Xue
authors.forename: Savio
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wong
authors.forename: Zhong-Lin
authors.initials: ZL
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Paula
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Palmer
authors.forename: Yonglan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.forename: Yong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Jia
authors.forename: C Anderson
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Johnson
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000502:physiology* / Q000523:psychology; D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect / Q000502:physiology; D000679:Amygdala / Q000503:physiopathology; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D063425:Binge Drinking / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000098:blood supply / Q000503:physiopathology*; D003657:Decision Making / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D059907:Functional Neuroimaging / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D009042:Motivation / Q000502:physiology; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010100:Oxygen / Q000097:blood; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D010100:Oxygen