Associative memory in alcohol-related contexts: An fMRI study with young binge drinkers.
| Autor: | Rodrigues RPS; University of Minho, Braga, Portugal., Sousa SS; University of Minho, Braga, Portugal., López-Caneda E; University of Minho, Braga, Portugal., Almeida-Antunes N; University of Minho, Braga, Portugal., González-Villar AJ; University of Minho, Braga, Portugal., Sampaio A; University of Minho, Braga, Portugal., Crego A; University of Minho, Braga, Portugal. |
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| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Zdroj: | Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England) [J Psychopharmacol] 2024 Nov; Vol. 38 (11), pp. 972-985. Date of Electronic Publication: 2024 Oct 07. |
| DOI: | 10.1177/02698811241282624 |
| Abstrakt: | Background: Alcohol-related cues are known to influence craving levels, a hallmark of alcohol misuse. Binge drinking (BD), a pattern of heavy alcohol use, has been associated with cognitive and neurofunctional alterations, including alcohol attentional bias, memory impairments, as well as disrupted activity in prefrontal- and reward-related regions. However, literature is yet to explore how memories associated with alcohol-related cues are processed by BDs, and how the recall of this information may influence their reward processing. Aims: The present functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study aimed to investigate the neurofunctional signatures of BD during an associative memory task. Method: In all, 36 university students, 20 BDs and 16 alcohol abstainers, were asked to memorize neutral objects paired with either alcohol or non-alcohol-related contexts. Subsequently, neutral stimuli were presented, and participants were asked to classify them as being previously paired with alcohol- or non-alcohol-related contexts. Results: While behavioral performance was similar in both groups, during the recall of alcohol-related cues, BDs showed increased brain activation in two clusters including the thalamus, globus pallidus and dorsal striatum, and cerebellum and occipital fusiform gyrus, respectively. Conclusion: These findings suggest that BDs display augmented brain activity in areas responsible for mental imagery and reward processing when trying to recall alcohol-related cues, which might ultimately contribute to alcohol craving, even without being directly exposed to an alcohol-related context. These results highlight the importance of considering how alcohol-related contexts may influence alcohol-seeking behavior and, consequently, the maintenance or increase in alcohol use. Competing Interests: Declaration of conflicting interestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. |
| Databáze: | MEDLINE |
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