Alcohol affects the emotional modulation of cognitive control: an event-related brain potential study

Alcohol and morality: one alcoholic drink is enough to make people declare to harm others and behave impurely

We aimed to understand if alcohol intoxication affects the willingness to violate moral foundations (care, fairness, authority, loyalty, and purity). We conducted a laboratory study (N = 387) with three randomized groups: alcohol intoxication, placebo, and control, measuring the sacralization of moral foundations via the Moral Foundations Sacredness Scale. The study showed intoxicated participants sacralized moral foundations of care and purity more often than participants from control and placebo groups. It means participants declared more willing to physically harm other people and animals and behave impurely, e.g., doing deviant sexual behaviors or selling their souls. No differences related to fairness, authority, and loyalty were found. Our study helps to understand the decision processes underlying immoral behaviors, including crimes. We showed that even one drink makes people change their judgments about what is right and wrong (in the cases of harmful and impure behaviors), and because this kind of judgment precedes immoral behaviors, our results may help explain why some people under the influence of alcohol break the rules by doing things which they would never do when sober.

Meta-analysis of acute alcohol effects on response inhibition

Alcohol intoxication impairs response inhibition; however, discrepant findings have been reported regarding the magnitude and moderators of this effect. This meta-analysis of human laboratory studies aimed to quantify acute effects of alcohol on response inhibition and evaluate moderators of this effect. Eligible studies examined alcohol's effects on response inhibition with the Go/No-Go (GNG) task (n = 1616 participants) or Stop Signal Task (SST) (n = 1310 participants). Results revealed a detrimental effect of acute alcohol on response inhibition overall (g = 0.411, 95 % CI [0.350, 0.471]), with similar effects in studies using GNG (g = 0.431, SE = 0.031) and SST (g = 0.366, SE = 0.063). Effect sizes were larger in studies involving higher breath alcohol concentration levels and under GNG conditions that established a prepotent response set. These findings establish the magnitude, precision, and potential moderators of alcohol's effects on inhibitory control, furthering understanding of a key neurobehavioral mechanism proposed to underlie alcohol-related impulsivity and impaired control over consumption.

The cognitive neural mechanism of response inhibition and error processing to fearful expressions in adolescents with high reactive aggression

Reactive aggression in adolescents is characterized by high levels of impulsivity. This is associated with deficits in response inhibition and error processing and spontaneous emotion-driven responses to a perceived threat. However, the characteristics and cognitive neural mechanisms of response inhibition and error processing to indirect threat in adolescents with high levels of reactive aggression are unclear. This study explored the characteristics and cognitive neural mechanisms of response inhibition and error processing to fearful expressions in adolescents with high levels of reactive aggression using an emotional Go/No-Go paradigm combined with ERP recordings. Adolescents with high levels of reactive aggression (n = 31) and a control group (n = 30) took part in this study. Results showed that when presented with fearful expressions, adolescents with high levels of reactive aggression showed a smaller No-Go P3 effect and smaller ERN amplitudes following commission errors on the No-Go task than the control group. Results suggested that when presented with fearful expressions, adolescents with high levels of reactive aggression have impaired response inhibition in the later stage of actual inhibitory control of the motor system and impaired error processing in the early stage of fast and automatic initial error detection.

A strong alcoholic drink does not influence self-assessments of the big five personality traits

cAlohol affects how people think, feel, and behave, and how they perceive the physical and social world around them. But does alcohol also influence how people perceive themselves? Past work points to a number of possibilities, suggesting intoxication could lead to positive biases, to negative biases, or have no effects on self-assessments at all. Here we tested whether alcoholic intoxication affects self-assessments of personality within the Big Five personality framework. We hypothesized that intoxicated participants would see themselves more positively than non-intoxicated individuals would. We conducted a preregistered laboratory experiment on participants divided into three groups: alcohol intoxication (n = 106), placebo (n = 114), and control conditions (n = 109). Contrary to predictions, we found no differences in self-assessments of personality across conditions. Findings point to the possibility that self-assessments of personality may be too stable to be affected by the momentary changes in thoughts and feelings caused by alcoholic intoxication.

Alcohol and Neural Dynamics: A Meta-analysis of Acute Alcohol Effects on Event-Related Brain Potentials

BACKGROUND

An understanding of alcohol's acute neural effects could augment our knowledge of mechanisms underlying alcohol-related cognitive/motor impairment and inform interventions for addiction. Focusing on studies employing event-related brain potential methods, which offer a direct measurement of neural activity in functionally well-characterized brain networks, we present the first meta-analysis to explore acute effects of alcohol on the human brain.

METHODS

Databases were searched for randomized laboratory alcohol-administration trials assessing brain activity using event-related potentials. Hedges' g coefficients were pooled using 3-level random-effects meta-regression.

RESULTS

Sixty independent randomized controlled trials met inclusion (total N = 2149). Alcohol's effects varied significantly across neural systems, with alcohol leading to reductions in event-related potential components linked with attention (P3b), g = -0.40, 95% CI (-0.50, -0.29), automatic auditory processing (mismatch negativity), g = -0.44, 95% CI (-0.66, -0.22), and performance monitoring (error-related negativity), g = -0.56, 95% CI (-0.79, -0.33). These effects were moderated by alcohol dose, emerging as significant at doses as low as 0.026% blood alcohol concentration and increasing to moderate/large at 0.12%. In contrast, irrespective of dose, relatively small or nonsignificant alcohol effects emerged in other processing domains, including those linked to executive control (N2b responses) and stimulus classification (N2c responses).

CONCLUSIONS

Contrary to traditional conceptualizations of alcohol as a "dirty drug" with broad central nervous system depressant effects, results instead support accounts positing targeted alcohol effects in specific processing domains. By identifying alcohol effects on brain systems involved in performance monitoring and attention, results move toward the identification of mechanisms underlying alcohol-related impairment as well as factors reinforcing addiction.

Reactive Aggression Affects Response Inhibition to Angry Expressions in Adolescents: An Event-Related Potential Study Using the Emotional Go/No-Go Paradigm

Although it is well established that response inhibition to angry expressions is impaired among reactively aggressive adolescents, the cognitive processes underlying this effect remain unclear. The main goal of our study was to investigate the time course of response inhibition to angry expressions in reactively aggressive adolescents compared to controls. In total, 23 reactively aggressive adolescents and 23 control adolescents were recruited to participate in an event-related potential (ERP) study measuring response inhibition to angry expressions with an emotional Go/No-go paradigm. The results showed that when presented angry or happy expressions, reactively aggressive adolescents showed a smaller No-go P3 effect than the control group. These results indicate that response inhibition to angry expressions in reactively aggressive adolescents is impaired at the later stage of the actual inhibitory control. The characteristics of response inhibition to happy expressions in reactively aggressive adolescents are similar to those in response to angry expressions.

Intoxicated aggression: Do alcohol and stimulants cause dose-related aggression? A review

RATIONALE

Violence and drug use are significant public health challenges that are strongly linked. It is known that alcohol plays a major role in the causation of unnatural deaths and that stimulants like cocaine and amphetamine are often implicated in aggressive acts or violence. However, a clear causal relationship between these substances and aggression, and more specifically a blood concentration threshold at which intoxicated aggression emerges is lacking. In case of a crime and subsequent law enforcement, knowledge about dose-response relationships could be of pivotal importance when evaluating the role of alcohol and drugs in aggressive offences.

AIMS

The present review aimed to determine whether there is a causal relation between intoxication with these psychoactive substances and aggression, and to define blood concentration thresholds above which these substances elicit aggression.

METHODS

Empirical articles published between 2013 and 2017 and review papers containing the predefined search strings were identified through searches in the PubMed and Embase databases and additional reference list searches. The complete search query yielded 1578 publications. Initially all articles were manually screened by title and abstract. Articles with irrelevant titles, given the selected search terms and review aims were discarded. Remaining articles were carefully studied and those that did not comply with the main objectives of this review were discarded. At the end of this process, 167 titles were found eligible for review.

FINDINGS AND CONCLUSION

While placebo-controlled experimental studies clearly showed a causal link between alcohol and aggression, it is evident that such a link has not yet been established for cocaine and amphetamines. In case of alcohol, it is clear that there are various individual and contextual factors that may contribute to the occurrence of an aggressive act during intoxication. A clear threshold blood alcohol concentration has not been defined yet for alcohol, but a statistically significant increase of aggression has been demonstrated at a dose of 0.75 g/kg and higher. Future studies into intoxicated aggression should include multiple doses of alcohol and stimulants and take into account individual and contextual factors.

Emotional Influences on Cognitive Processing in Fibromyalgia Patients With Different Depression Levels: An Event-related Potential Study

OBJECTIVES

Comorbid symptoms in fibromyalgia (FM) syndrome, such as mood disorders and cognitive dysfunction, may lead to greater functional impairment than pain itself. This study aimed to unravel the modulating role of depression in response execution and inhibition in FM using an emotional go/no-go task.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

In total, 17 FM patients with low depression, 18 FM patients with high depression, and 18 pain-free controls were included. Pain, happy, and neutral faces were pseudorandomly presented, and participants were asked to respond to male faces (go trials) by pressing a button, and to inhibit their responses if female faces were presented (no-go trials).

RESULTS

FM patients with high depression showed lower positive affect scores, higher negative affect and pain vigilance scores, and slower reaction times, than FM patients with low depression and pain-free controls. Both subgroups of FM patients also rated pain faces as more arousing than pain-free controls. The lack of group differences in our electrophysiological data, neither in N200 nor in P300 amplitudes, seems to indicate that there was no significant impairment in response execution in response inhibition due to pain.

DISCUSSION

Taken together, these results add evidence to the notion that depression is associated with higher affective dysregulation and deficit of information-processing speed in FM. Furthermore, our data suggest that pain induces a bias to pain-related information, but the absence of significant group differences in event-related potential amplitudes, calculated with analyses of covariance (ANCOVA) (with pain intensity), seem to show that pain intensity is not a predictor for cognitive dysfunctions.

Altered oscillatory brain dynamics of emotional processing in young binge drinkers

Heavy episodic drinking, also termed binge drinking, is commonly practiced by young adults. It is accompanied by a range of cognitive, affective, and social problems, but the neural dynamics underlying changes in emotional functions is poorly understood. To investigate the behavioral and brain indices of affective processing as a function of binge drinking, young, healthy participants (23.3 ± 3.3 years) were assigned to two groups (n = 32 each) based on their drinking habits. Binge drinking (BD) participants reported drinking heavily with at least five binge episodes in the last 6 months, whereas light drinkers (LD) reported no more than one binge episode in the last 6 months. Participants provided subjective ratings of emotionally evocative images with negative, positive, erotic, and neutral themes mostly selected from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS). Electroencephalography (EEG) signal was recorded with a 64-channel system and analyzed in theta frequency band (4-7 Hz) with Morlet wavelets. Subjective ratings of the IAPS pictures were equivalent across both groups. However, affective modulation of event-related theta power both during early appraisal and later integrative processing stages was attenuated in BD, particularly those engaging in high-intensity drinking. These findings suggest that binge drinking is associated with altered neurophysiological indices of affective functions that are reflected in lower theta responsivity to emotions. The blunted long-range cortico-cortical and corticolimbic integration is consistent with compromised affective functions in alcohol use disorder. These findings may have implications for diagnostic and intervention strategies in heavy alcohol users.

Problematic alcohol use and acute intoxication predict anger-related attentional biases: A test of the alcohol myopia theory

Previous research has demonstrated a significant association between alcohol and aggression. However, the precise mechanisms underlying this relationship have yet to be fully elucidated. In the present study, we examined alcohol's effects on an attentional bias toward aggressogenic cues as the first step in a possible mediation model of alcohol-facilitated intimate partner aggression. More specifically, we tested an interactive effect of problematic alcohol use and acute alcohol intoxication on an attentional bias toward anger words. Participants in this study were 249 male and female heavy drinkers from the community with a history of past-year intimate partner aggression perpetration who participated in an alcohol-administration laboratory study assessing the effect of alcohol intoxication on cognitive biases. Multiple linear regression was used to test the proposed moderation model. Acute alcohol intoxication moderated the effect of problematic alcohol use on an attentional bias toward anger, with this effect being stronger for individuals in the alcohol compared to no-alcohol control condition. These findings suggest that problematic drinkers may be more likely to attend to aggressogenic stimuli while acutely intoxicated, relative to when they are sober. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Enhanced Nogo-P3 amplitudes of mothers compared with non-mother women during an emotional Go/Nogo task

Background

It is known that emotion regulatory responses of humans are changed by the experiences they have, but in particular, they are changed by becoming a mother. A recent study has found how a woman’s emotion regulatory response to a child’s crying changes after becoming a mother. However, mothers’ emotion regulatory responses other than those to children and the association between emotion regulatory response and parental stress are still unknown.

Methods

Eighteen healthy Japanese females (nine mothers and nine non-mothers) participated in the experiment. They performed an emotional Go/Nogo task, with facial expressions of others (angry, happy, and neutral faces) used as emotional stimuli. The percentage of correct responses, response time, and event-related potentials (ERPs) during the task was measured.

Results

This comparison revealed that the mother group had a larger P3 (Nogo-P3) amplitude than the non-mother group when Nogo trials were held. This indicates that in mothers, there was greater activation of the behavioral inhibition-related brain areas than in non-mother women when they inhibited inappropriate behavior following recognition of facial expressions of others. In addition, in the mother group, there was a negative correlation between parental stress levels and Nogo-P3 amplitudes evoked by angry faces. This suggests that there is a relation between the level of parental stress of mothers and their emotion regulatory responses to angry faces.

Conclusions

Our results demonstrate that mothers’ emotion regulatory processes may differ from those of non-mothers in response, not only to a child’s crying but also to expressions of emotions by others, and also suggest that the inhibitory recognition activity of mothers can be affected by parental stress.

Acute alcohol effects on facial expressions of emotions in social drinkers: a systematic review

Background

As known from everyday experience and experimental research, alcohol modulates emotions. Particularly regarding social interaction, the effects of alcohol on the facial expression of emotion might be of relevance. However, these effects have not been systematically studied. We performed a systematic review on acute alcohol effects on social drinkers' facial expressions of induced positive and negative emotions.

Materials and methods

With a predefined algorithm, we searched three electronic databases (PubMed, PsycInfo, and Web of Science) for studies conducted on social drinkers that used acute alcohol administration, emotion induction, and standardized methods to record facial expressions. We excluded those studies that failed common quality standards, and finally selected 13 investigations for this review.

Results

Overall, alcohol exerted effects on facial expressions of emotions in social drinkers. These effects were not generally disinhibiting, but varied depending on the valence of emotion and on social interaction. Being consumed within social groups, alcohol mostly influenced facial expressions of emotions in a socially desirable way, thus underscoring the view of alcohol as social lubricant. However, methodical differences regarding alcohol administration between the studies complicated comparability.

Conclusion

Our review highlighted the relevance of emotional valence and social-context factors for acute alcohol effects on social drinkers' facial expressions of emotions. Future research should investigate how these alcohol effects influence the development of problematic drinking behavior in social drinkers.

Binge drinking affects brain oscillations linked to motor inhibition and execution

INTRODUCTION

Neurofunctional studies have shown that binge drinking patterns of alcohol consumption during adolescence and youth are associated with anomalies in brain functioning. Recent evidence suggests that event-related oscillations may be an appropriate index of neurofunctional damage associated with alcoholism. However, there is no study to date that has evaluated the effects of binge drinking on oscillatory brain responses related to task performance. The purpose of the present study was to examine brain oscillations linked to motor inhibition and execution in young binge drinkers (BDs) compared with age-matched controls.

METHODS

Electroencephalographic activity was recorded from 64 electrodes while 72 university students (36 controls and 36 BDs) performed a visual Go/NoGo task. Event-related oscillations along with the Go-P3 and NoGo-P3 event-related potential components were analysed.

RESULTS

While no significant differences between groups were observed regarding event-related potentials, event-related oscillation analysis showed that BDs displayed a lower oscillatory response than controls in delta and theta frequency ranges during Go and NoGo conditions.

CONCLUSIONS

Findings are congruent with event-related oscillation studies showing reduced delta and/or theta oscillations in alcoholics during Go/NoGo tasks. Thus, BDs appear to show disruptions in neural oscillations linked to motor inhibition and execution similar to those observed in alcohol-dependent subjects. Finally, these results are the first to evidence that oscillatory brain activity may be a sensitive indicator of underlying brain anomalies in young BDs, which could complement standard event-related potential measures.

Investigating biases of attention and memory for alcohol-related and negative words in alcohol-dependents with and without major depression after day-clinic treatment

This study aimed to investigate attentional and memory biases in alcohol-dependents with and without major depression compared to healthy controls. We assumed that both groups of alcohol-dependents would show attentional and memory biases for alcohol-related words. For the alcohol-dependents with depression, we additionally expected both types of biases for negative words. Alcohol-dependents without co-morbidity (Alc) and alcohol-dependents with major depression (D-Alc) as well as control participants with a moderate consumption of alcohol (Con) completed an alcohol Stroop task and a directed forgetting paradigm using word stimuli from three categories: neutral, negative, and alcohol-related. Stroop effects showed that not only alcohol-dependents but also control participants were more distracted by alcohol-related than by negative words. In the directed forgetting procedure, all participants showed a significant effect for each word-category, including alcohol-related and negative words. The D-Alc-group memorized more alcohol-related than negative to-be-remembered words. The results do not corroborate the hypothesis of more pronounced attentional and memory biases in alcohol-dependents. However, in alcohol-dependents with depression a memory bias for alcohol-related material was found, suggesting that this group may be more pre-occupied with alcohol than patients without such co-morbidity.

Alcohol abuse and ERP components in Go/No-go tasks using alcohol-related stimuli: impact of alcohol avoidance

Alcohol addictive behaviors are associated with a combination of deficits in executive functions, such as a weak response inhibition, and potent automatic appetitive responses to alcohol-related cues. The aim of the present study was to investigate behavioral responses and event-related potentials (ERPs) associated with specific response inhibition for alcohol-related cues. Thirty participants (15 heavy drinkers and 15 light drinkers) took part in the study. Response inhibition was assessed by a classical letter Go/No-go task and by a modified alcohol Go/No-go task. Participants were also classified as high and low alcohol avoiders. Results showed that heavy drinkers made more false alarms in the letter Go/No-go task. In the alcohol Go/No-go task, an absence of N200 amplitude anteriorization was found in heavy drinkers as compared to light drinkers. Participants with a high level of alcohol avoidance exhibited more false alarms, and higher N200 amplitude for the No-go trials as compared to the Go trials for alcohol-related cues. Higher P300 amplitude was observed in low alcohol avoiders for No-go as compared to Go trials. Therefore, a context involving alcohol-related cues disturbed inhibition capacities of high alcohol avoiders. These results suggest that the level of alcohol avoidance must be taken into account in studies investigating alcohol-related cognitive biases.

The acute effects of MDMA and ethanol administration on electrophysiological correlates of performance monitoring in healthy volunteers

RATIONALE

Knowing how commonly used drugs affect performance monitoring is of great importance, because drug use is often associated with compromised behavioral control. Two of the most commonly used recreational drugs in the western world, 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA or "ecstasy") and ethanol (alcohol), are also often used in combination. The error-related negativity (ERN), correct-related negativity (CRN), and N2 are electrophysiological indices of performance monitoring.

OBJECTIVES

The present study aimed to investigate how ethanol, MDMA, and their co-administration affect performance monitoring as indexed by the electrophysiological correlates.

METHODS

Behavioral and EEG data were obtained from 14 healthy volunteers during execution of a speeded choice-reaction-time task after administration of ethanol, MDMA, and combined ethanol and MDMA, in a double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized crossover design.

RESULTS

Ethanol significantly reduced ERN amplitudes, while administration of MDMA did not affect the ERN. Co-administration of MDMA and ethanol did not further impair nor ameliorate the effect of ethanol alone. No drug effects on CRN nor N2 were observed.

DISCUSSION

A decreased ERN following ethanol administration is in line with previous work and offers further support for the impairing effects of alcohol intoxication on performance monitoring. This impairment may underlie maladaptive behavior in people who are under influence. Moreover, these data demonstrate for the first time that MDMA does not affect performance monitoring nor does it interact with ethanol in this process. These findings corroborate the notion that MDMA leaves central executive functions relatively unaffected.

Cognitive control in alcohol use disorder: deficits and clinical relevance

Cognitive control refers to the internal representation, maintenance, and updating of context information in the service of exerting control over thoughts and behavior. Deficits in cognitive control likely contribute to difficulty in maintaining abstinence in individuals with alcohol use disorders (AUD). In this article, we define three cognitive control processes in detail (response inhibition, distractor interference control, and working memory), review the tasks measuring performance in these areas, and summarize the brain networks involved in carrying out these processes. Next, we review evidence of deficits in these processes in AUD, including both metrics of task performance and functional neuroimaging. Finally, we explore the clinical relevance of these deficits by identifying predictors of clinical outcome and markers that appear to change (improve) with treatment. We observe that individuals with AUD experience deficits in some, but not all, metrics of cognitive control. Deficits in cognitive control may predict clinical outcome in AUD, but more work is necessary to replicate findings. It is likely that performance on tasks requiring cognitive control improves with abstinence, and with some psychosocial and medication treatments. Future work should clarify which aspects of cognitive control are most important to target during treatment of AUD.

Cognition, emotion, and attention

Deficits of attention, emotion, and cognition occur in individuals with alcohol abuse and addiction. This review elucidates the concepts of attention, emotion, and cognition and references research on the underlying neural networks and their compromise in alcohol use disorder. Neuroimaging research on adolescents with family history of alcoholism contributes to the understanding of pre-existing brain structural conditions and characterization of cognition and attention processes in high-risk individuals. Attention and cognition interact with other brain functions, including perceptual selection, salience, emotion, reward, and memory, through interconnected neural networks. Recent research reports compromised microstructural and functional network connectivity in alcoholism, which can have an effect on the dynamic tuning between brain systems, e.g., the frontally based executive control system, the limbic emotion system, and the midbrain-striatal reward system, thereby impeding cognitive flexibility and behavioral adaptation to changing environments. Finally, we introduce concepts of functional compensation, the capacity to generate attentional resources for performance enhancement, and brain structure recovery with abstinence. An understanding of the neural mechanisms of attention, emotion, and cognition will likely provide the basis for better treatment strategies for developing skills that enhance alcoholism therapy adherence and quality of life, and reduce the propensity for relapse.

Alcohol-related context modulates performance of social drinkers in a visual Go/No-Go task: a preliminary assessment of event-related potentials

Background

Increased alcohol cue-reactivity and altered inhibitory processing have been reported in heavy social drinkers and alcohol-dependent patients, and are associated with relapse. In social drinkers, these two processes have been usually studied separately by recording event-related potentials (ERPs) during rapid picture presentation. The aim of our study was to confront social drinkers to a task triggering high alcohol cue-reactivity, to verify whether it specifically altered inhibitory performance, by using long-lasting background picture presentation.

Methods

ERP were recorded during visual Go/No-Go tasks performed by social drinkers, in which a frequent Go signal (letter “M”), and a rare No-Go signal (letter “W”) were superimposed on three different types of background pictures: neutral (black background), alcohol-related and non alcohol-related.

Results

Our data suggested that heavy social drinkers made more commission errors than light drinkers, but only in the alcohol-related context. Neurophysiologically, this was reflected by a delayed No-Go P3 component.

Conclusions

Elevated alcohol cue-reactivity may lead to poorer inhibitory performance in heavy social drinkers, and may be considered as an important vulnerability factor in developing alcohol misuse. Prevention programs should be designed to decrease the high arousal of alcohol stimuli and strengthen cognitive control in young, at-risk individuals.