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Cid-Jofré V, Bahamondes T, Zúñiga Correa A, Ahumada Arias I, Reyes-Parada M, Renard GM. Psychostimulants and social behaviors. Front Pharmacol 2024; 15:1364630. [PMID: 38725665 PMCID: PMC11079219 DOI: 10.3389/fphar.2024.1364630] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/02/2024] [Accepted: 04/01/2024] [Indexed: 05/12/2024] Open
Abstract
Mounting evidence from animal models and human studies indicates that psychostimulants can significantly affect social behaviors. This is not surprising considering that the neural circuits underlying the regulation and expression of social behaviors are highly overlapped with those targeted by psychostimulants, which in most cases have strong rewarding and, consequently, addictive properties. In the present work, we provide an overview regarding the effects of illicit and prescription psychostimulants, such as cocaine, amphetamine-type stimulants, methylphenidate or modafinil, upon social behaviors such as social play, maternal behavior, aggression, pair bonding and social cognition and how psychostimulants in both animals and humans alter them. Finally, we discuss why these effects can vary depending on numerous variables such as the type of drug considered, acute versus long-term use, clinical versus recreational consumption, or the presence or absence of concomitant risk factors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Valeska Cid-Jofré
- Centro de Investigación Biomédica y Aplicada (CIBAP), Escuela de Medicina, Facultad de Ciencias Médicas, Universidad de Santiago de Chile (USACH), Santiago, Chile
| | - Tamara Bahamondes
- Centro de Investigación Biomédica y Aplicada (CIBAP), Escuela de Medicina, Facultad de Ciencias Médicas, Universidad de Santiago de Chile (USACH), Santiago, Chile
| | - Agustina Zúñiga Correa
- Centro de Investigación Biomédica y Aplicada (CIBAP), Escuela de Medicina, Facultad de Ciencias Médicas, Universidad de Santiago de Chile (USACH), Santiago, Chile
| | - Ivalú Ahumada Arias
- Centro de Investigación Biomédica y Aplicada (CIBAP), Escuela de Medicina, Facultad de Ciencias Médicas, Universidad de Santiago de Chile (USACH), Santiago, Chile
| | - Miguel Reyes-Parada
- Centro de Investigación Biomédica y Aplicada (CIBAP), Escuela de Medicina, Facultad de Ciencias Médicas, Universidad de Santiago de Chile (USACH), Santiago, Chile
- Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad Autónoma de Chile, Talca, Chile
| | - Georgina M. Renard
- Centro de Investigación Biomédica y Aplicada (CIBAP), Escuela de Medicina, Facultad de Ciencias Médicas, Universidad de Santiago de Chile (USACH), Santiago, Chile
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Decoding Emotion in Drug Abusers: Evidence for Face and Body Emotion Recognition and for Disgust Emotion. Eur J Investig Health Psychol Educ 2022; 12:1427-1440. [PMID: 36135237 PMCID: PMC9498236 DOI: 10.3390/ejihpe12090099] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/20/2022] [Revised: 09/06/2022] [Accepted: 09/14/2022] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Background: Different drugs damage the frontal cortices, particularly the prefrontal areas involved in both emotional and cognitive functions, with a consequence of decoding emotion deficits for people with substance abuse. The present study aimed to explore the cognitive impairments in drug abusers through facial, body and disgust emotion recognition, expanding the investigation of emotions processing, measuring accuracy and response velocity. Methods: We enrolled 13 addicted to cocaine and 12 alcohol patients attending treatment services in Italy, comparing them with 33 matched controls. Facial emotion and body posture recognition tasks, a disgust rating task and the Barrat Impulsivity Scale were included in the experimental assessment. Results: We found that emotional processes are differently influenced by cocaine and alcohol, suggesting that these substances impact diverse cerebral systems. Conclusions: Drug abusers seem to be less accurate on elaboration of facial, body and disgust emotions. Considering that the participants were not cognitively impaired, our data support the hypothesis that emotional impairments emerge independently from the damage of cognitive functions.
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Yang L, Zhang Y, Zhang J, Li N, Chen Z. Altered neural processing of social reward in male heroin abstainers. Int J Psychophysiol 2022; 176:142-148. [DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2022.04.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/19/2021] [Revised: 04/04/2022] [Accepted: 04/06/2022] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
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Rabin RA, Parvaz MA, Alia-Klein N, Goldstein RZ. Emotion recognition in individuals with cocaine use disorder: the role of abstinence length and the social brain network. Psychopharmacology (Berl) 2022; 239:1019-1033. [PMID: 34089343 PMCID: PMC8689230 DOI: 10.1007/s00213-021-05868-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/12/2020] [Accepted: 05/05/2021] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
RATIONALE Emotion recognition is impaired in drug addiction. However, research examining the effects of cocaine use on emotion recognition yield mixed evidence with contradictory results potentially reflecting varying abstinence durations. OBJECTIVES Therefore, we investigated emotion recognition and its neural correlates in individuals with cocaine use disorder (CUD) parsed according to abstinence duration. METHODS Emotion recognition performance was compared between current cocaine users (CUD + , n = 28; cocaine-positive urine), short-term abstainers (CUD-ST, n = 23; abstinence < 6 months), long-term abstainers (CUD-LT, n = 20; abstinence ≥ 6 months), and controls (n = 45). A sample subset (n = 73) underwent structural magnetic resonance imaging to quantify regional gray matter volume (GMV) using voxel-based morphometry. RESULTS CUD + demonstrated greater difficulty recognizing happiness than CUD-ST and controls, and sadness and fear compared to controls (p < 0.01). For fear, CUD-ST also performed worse than controls (p < 0.01), while no differences emerged between CUD-LT and controls. Whole-brain analysis revealed lower GMV in the bilateral cerebellum in CUD + compared to CUD-LT and controls; a similar pattern was observed in the amygdala (CUD + < CUD-LT) (pFWE < 0.01). Collapsed across all participants, poorer recognition for happiness was associated with lower right cerebellar GMV (pFWE < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS Emotion recognition is impaired with current cocaine use, and selective deficits (in fear) may persist with up to 6 months of abstinence. Lower cerebellar GMV may underlie deficits in positive emotion recognition. Interventions targeting emotional-social-cognitive deficits, especially among active users, may enhance treatment success for individuals with CUD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rachel A Rabin
- Department of Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine At Mount Sinai, Gustave L. Levy Place, Box 1230, New York, NY, 10029, USA
| | - Muhammad A Parvaz
- Department of Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine At Mount Sinai, Gustave L. Levy Place, Box 1230, New York, NY, 10029, USA
- Department of Neuroscience, Icahn School of Medicine At Mount Sinai, Gustave L. Levy Place, Box 1230, New York, NY, 10029, USA
| | - Nelly Alia-Klein
- Department of Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine At Mount Sinai, Gustave L. Levy Place, Box 1230, New York, NY, 10029, USA
- Department of Neuroscience, Icahn School of Medicine At Mount Sinai, Gustave L. Levy Place, Box 1230, New York, NY, 10029, USA
| | - Rita Z Goldstein
- Department of Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine At Mount Sinai, Gustave L. Levy Place, Box 1230, New York, NY, 10029, USA.
- Department of Neuroscience, Icahn School of Medicine At Mount Sinai, Gustave L. Levy Place, Box 1230, New York, NY, 10029, USA.
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5
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Wei L, Wu GR, Bi M, Baeken C. Effective connectivity predicts cognitive empathy in cocaine addiction: a spectral dynamic causal modeling study. Brain Imaging Behav 2021; 15:1553-1561. [PMID: 32710329 DOI: 10.1007/s11682-020-00354-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/17/2022]
Abstract
Social cognition plays a crucial role in the development and treatment of cocaine dependence. However, studies investigating social cognition, such as empathy and its underlying neural basis, are lacking. To explore the neural interactions among reward and memory circuits, we applied effective connectivity analysis on resting-state fMRI data collected from cocaine-dependent subjects. The relationship between effective connectivity within these two important circuits and empathy ability - evaluated with the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) - was assessed by machine learning algorithm using multivariate regression analysis. In accordance with the neurocircuitry disruptions of cocaine addiction, the results showed that cocaine-dependent subjects relative to healthy controls had altered resting state effective connectivity between parts of the memory and reward systems. Furthermore, effective connectivity between the memory and reward system could predict the fantasy empathy (FE) subscale scores in cocaine dependence. Overall, our findings provide further evidence for the neural substrates of social cognition in cocaine-dependent patients. These new insights could be useful for the development of new treatment programs for this substance dependency disorder.
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Affiliation(s)
- Luqing Wei
- School of Psychology, Jiangxi Normal University, Nanchang, China
| | - Guo-Rong Wu
- Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality, Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, China. .,Ghent Experimental Psychiatry (GHEP) Lab, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
| | - Minghua Bi
- Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality, Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, China
| | - Chris Baeken
- Ghent Experimental Psychiatry (GHEP) Lab, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.,Department of Psychiatry and Medical Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.,Department of Psychiatry, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Universitair Ziekenhuis Brussel (UZBrussel), Laarbeeklaan 101, 1090, Brussels, Belgium.,Department of Electrical Engineering, Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, The Netherlands
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6
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Bjork JM, Keyser-Marcus L, Vassileva J, Ramey T, Houghton DC, Moeller FG. Social Information Processing in Substance Use Disorders: Insights From an Emotional Go-Nogo Task. Front Psychiatry 2021; 12:672488. [PMID: 34122188 PMCID: PMC8193089 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2021.672488] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/25/2021] [Accepted: 04/28/2021] [Indexed: 11/27/2022] Open
Abstract
Positive social connections are crucial for recovery from Substance Use Disorder (SUD). Of interest is understanding potential social information processing (SIP) mediators of this effect. To explore whether persons with different SUD show idiosyncratic biases toward social signals, we administered an emotional go-nogo task (EGNG) to 31 individuals with Cocaine Use Disorder (CoUD), 31 with Cannabis Use Disorder (CaUD), 79 with Opioid Use Disorder (OUD), and 58 controls. Participants were instructed to respond to emotional faces (Fear/Happy) but withhold responses to expressionless faces in two task blocks, with the reverse instruction in the other two blocks. Emotional faces as non-targets elicited more "false alarm" (FA) commission errors as a main effect. Groups did not differ in overall rates of hits (correct responses to target faces), but participants with CaUD and CoUD showed reduced rates of hits (relative to controls) when expressionless faces were targets. OUD participants had worse hit rates [and slower reaction times (RT)] when fearful faces (but not happy faces) were targets. CaUD participants were most affected by instruction effects (respond/"go" vs withhold response/"no-go" to emotional face) on discriminability statistic A. Participants were faster to respond to happy face targets than to expressionless faces. However, this pattern was reversed in fearful face blocks in OUD and CoUD participants. This experiment replicated previous findings of the greater salience of expressive face images, and extends this finding to SUD, where persons with CaUD may show even greater bias toward emotional faces. Conversely, OUD participants showed idiosyncratic behavior in response to fearful faces suggestive of increased attentional disruption by fear. These data suggest a mechanism by which positive social signals may contribute to recovery.
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Affiliation(s)
- James M. Bjork
- Institute for Drug and Alcohol Studies, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, United States
| | - Lori Keyser-Marcus
- Institute for Drug and Alcohol Studies, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, United States
| | - Jasmin Vassileva
- Institute for Drug and Alcohol Studies, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, United States
| | - Tatiana Ramey
- Division of Therapeutics and Medical Consequences, National Institute on Drug Abuse, Bethesda, MD, United States
| | - David C. Houghton
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Center for Addiction Research, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX, United States
| | - F. Gerard Moeller
- Institute for Drug and Alcohol Studies, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, United States
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7
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Bland AR, Ersche KD. Deficits in recognizing female facial expressions related to social network in cocaine-addicted men. Drug Alcohol Depend 2020; 216:108247. [PMID: 32896724 DOI: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2020.108247] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/03/2020] [Revised: 07/23/2020] [Accepted: 08/16/2020] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND The ability to accurately recognise facial expressions of emotion is crucial for social functioning and maintaining healthy relationships. Recognising the emotional state of others allows us to respond to their needs and adjust our behaviour appropriately. Impairments in facial affect recognition have been reported in chronic cocaine users but little is known whether these contribute to their difficulties in social situations. METHODS We assessed facial emotional expression recognition in forty-five men with cocaine use disorder (CUD) and forty-four healthy control participants. Using standardised questionnaires, we also collected information on perceived social support, social provision and community integration. RESULTS Our results found that male cocaine users had greater difficulty in recognising female emotional facial expressions than male controls. This effect was not explained by demographic variables but it was associated with their social network; including social support, social provisions and community integration. CONCLUSION Our findings suggest that men with CUD have greater difficulty in identifying emotional expression in female faces, which is linked with their social support networks. This may play an important role in misunderstanding non-verbal communications that contribute to destabilising friendship and family ties typically seen in drug addiction. Addressing deficits in recognising female emotional expressions may be an important piece of information for counselling and other interventions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amy R Bland
- Department of Psychiatry, Herchel Smith Building for Brain & Mind Sciences, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 0SZ, UK; Department of Psychology, Brooks Building, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, M15 6GX, UK
| | - Karen D Ersche
- Department of Psychiatry, Herchel Smith Building for Brain & Mind Sciences, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 0SZ, UK.
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8
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Kexel AK, Vonmoos M, Preller KH, Hulka LM, Seifritz E, Quednow BB. Social and Non-Social Cognitive Enhancement in Cocaine Users-A Closer Look on Enhancement Motives for Cocaine Consumption. Front Psychiatry 2020; 11:618. [PMID: 32695032 PMCID: PMC7338788 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2020.00618] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/25/2020] [Accepted: 06/15/2020] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Cognitive disturbances of chronic cocaine users (CU) have been repeatedly investigated. However, it is yet unknown how CU using cocaine for cognitive or social enhancement differ from stimulant-naïve controls and CU that do not have these motives. More precisely, we assumed that CU with an enhancement motive self-medicate deficits in specific cognitive abilities, i.e., they use cocaine to enhance their performance in either social (social motive) or non-social cognitive situations (cognitive motive). METHODS Forty-two CU were categorized according to their motives for cocaine consumption into social and non-social motive groups as well as cognitive and non-cognitive motive groups, respectively. Subsequently, CU motive groups were compared to 48 stimulant-naïve controls in their social and non-social cognitive functioning applying a comprehensive neuropsychological test battery. RESULTS The social motive group showed deficits in cognitive empathy compared to controls (Cohen's d = 0.65) and the non-social motive group (d = 0.60). No mentionable effects were found for emotional empathy and Theory-of-Mind. Cognitive and non-cognitive motive groups both showed general cognitive deficits but with different patterns of impairments compared to controls: the cognitive motive group had deficits mainly in working memory (d = 0.84) and declarative memory (d = 0.60), whereas the non-cognitive motive group also had deficits in working memory (d = 0.61) but additionally in executive functions (d = 0.67). For the domains declarative memory and executive functions, the respective other CU group displayed intermediate performance. CONCLUSIONS This study demonstrates that cocaine is partially instrumentalized by CU with specific enhancement motives to counteract related cognitive impairments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ann-Kathrin Kexel
- Experimental and Clinical Pharmacopsychology, Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, and Psychosomatics, Psychiatric Hospital of the University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Matthias Vonmoos
- Experimental and Clinical Pharmacopsychology, Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, and Psychosomatics, Psychiatric Hospital of the University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Katrin H Preller
- Experimental and Clinical Pharmacopsychology, Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, and Psychosomatics, Psychiatric Hospital of the University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Lea M Hulka
- Experimental and Clinical Pharmacopsychology, Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, and Psychosomatics, Psychiatric Hospital of the University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Erich Seifritz
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, and Psychosomatics, Psychiatric Hospital of the University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.,Neuroscience Center Zurich, University of Zurich and Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Boris B Quednow
- Experimental and Clinical Pharmacopsychology, Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, and Psychosomatics, Psychiatric Hospital of the University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.,Neuroscience Center Zurich, University of Zurich and Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
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9
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Bedi G, Hao X, Van Dam NT, Cooper ZD, Rubin E, Vadhan NP, Marino L, Haney M. Social motivational processing and interpersonal function in aging cocaine smokers. Addict Biol 2019; 24:1044-1055. [PMID: 30328665 DOI: 10.1111/adb.12669] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/08/2018] [Revised: 07/09/2018] [Accepted: 07/18/2018] [Indexed: 01/19/2023]
Abstract
Illicit drug use among aging cohorts is increasing, yet little is known about functional impairments in older drug users. Given the importance of social integration for aging and documented social decrements in cocaine users, we examined social function and its neurocognitive substrates in aging cocaine users relative to carefully matched non-cocaine users. Regular (≥twice/week), long-term (≥15 years) cocaine smokers 50-60 years old (COCs; n = 22; four women) and controls (CTRLs; n = 19; four women) underwent standardized probes of social reward and threat processing during functional magnetic resonance imaging and a behavioral facial affect recognition task. Self-report and peer-report of daily interpersonal function were also collected. COCs, and CTRLs reporting current marijuana or alcohol use, were tested after four drug-free inpatient days. COCs had pronounced problems in daily social function relative to CTRLs indicated by both their own and their peers' reports. Compared with CTRLs, COCs had stronger amygdala responses to social threat versus control stimuli, with no other differences in social processing or cognition. Aging cocaine users appear to have marked, generalized difficulties in 'real-world' interpersonal function but largely intact social processing on laboratory-based measures when compared with appropriately matched controls and tested under well-controlled conditions. Daily social difficulties may be related to transient factors such as acute/residual drug effects or cocaine-related changes in health behaviors (e.g. disrupted sleep and poor diet). These data suggest that interpersonal function may be a valid intervention target for aging cocaine users and warrants further study in older drug users.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gillinder Bedi
- Department of Psychiatry; Columbia University Medical Center and New York State Psychiatric Institute; New York NY USA
- Centre for Youth Mental Health; University of Melbourne; Australia
- Orygen, National Centre of Excellence in Youth Mental Health; Australia
| | - Xuejun Hao
- Department of Psychiatry; Columbia University Medical Center and New York State Psychiatric Institute; New York NY USA
| | | | - Ziva D. Cooper
- Department of Psychiatry; Columbia University Medical Center and New York State Psychiatric Institute; New York NY USA
| | - Eric Rubin
- Department of Psychiatry; Columbia University Medical Center and New York State Psychiatric Institute; New York NY USA
| | - Nehal P. Vadhan
- Hofstra-Northwell School of Medicine and Feinstein Institute for Medical Research; Great Neck NY USA
| | - Leslie Marino
- Department of Psychiatry; Columbia University Medical Center and New York State Psychiatric Institute; New York NY USA
| | - Margaret Haney
- Department of Psychiatry; Columbia University Medical Center and New York State Psychiatric Institute; New York NY USA
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10
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Albein-Urios N, Martinez-Gonzalez JM, Lozano-Rojas O, Verdejo-Garcia A. Dysfunctional Personality Beliefs Linked to Emotion Recognition Deficits in Individuals With Cocaine Addiction and Personality Disorders. Front Psychiatry 2019; 10:431. [PMID: 31275181 PMCID: PMC6591705 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2019.00431] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/13/2019] [Accepted: 05/31/2019] [Indexed: 01/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Background: Facial emotion recognition is impaired in addiction and personality disorders. Dysfunctional personality beliefs reflect negative interpersonal schemas that may underpin emotion recognition deficits. We aimed to examine the association between personality beliefs and emotion recognition among participants with cocaine use disorder including those with comorbid personality disorders. Methods: We recruited 70 participants with cocaine use disorder aged between 19 and 52 who had used 14 g of cocaine over 4.8 years on average. Thirty-eight participants had an additional personality disorder (11 Borderline, 7 Histrionic, 5 Antisocial, 10 Avoidant, and 5 Obsessive-Compulsive). Dysfunctional beliefs were indicated with the Personality Belief Questionnaire, and facial emotion recognition was indicated with the Ekman's Test. We applied correlations/multiple regressions to test the relationship between beliefs and emotion recognition. Results: Personality beliefs reflecting paranoid, borderline, and antisocial schemas were negatively associated with emotion recognition. Antisocial beliefs were associated with poorer recognition of fear, and paranoid beliefs with poorer recognition of disgust. Antisocial beliefs were significantly associated with emotion recognition after adjusting for cocaine use. Conclusion: Dysfunctional personality beliefs are associated with poorer emotion recognition in cocaine addiction. Personality-related negative schemas about the self and others can impact social cognition and interaction during cocaine treatment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Natalia Albein-Urios
- Cognitive Neuroscience Unit, School of Psychology, Deakin University, Geelong, VIC, Australia
| | | | - Oscar Lozano-Rojas
- Departamento de Psicología Clínica, Experimental y Social, Universidad de Huelva, Huelva, Spain.,Research Center on Natural Resources, Health and Environment, University of Huelva, Huelva, Spain
| | - Antonio Verdejo-Garcia
- Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
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12
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Fede SJ, Harenski CL, Borg JS, Sinnott-Armstrong W, Rao V, Caldwell B, Nyalakanti PK, Koenigs M, Decety J, Calhoun VC, Kiehl KA. Abnormal fronto-limbic engagement in incarcerated stimulant users during moral processing. Psychopharmacology (Berl) 2016; 233:3077-87. [PMID: 27401337 PMCID: PMC4982833 DOI: 10.1007/s00213-016-4344-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/27/2016] [Accepted: 05/09/2016] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
RATIONALE Stimulant use is a significant and prevalent problem, particularly in criminal populations. Previous studies found that cocaine and methamphetamine use is related to impairment in identifying emotions and empathy. Stimulant users also have abnormal neural structure and function of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), amygdala, and anterior (ACC) and posterior cingulate (PCC), regions implicated in moral decision-making. However, no research has studied the neural correlates of stimulant use and explicit moral processing in an incarcerated population. OBJECTIVES Here, we examine how stimulant use affects sociomoral processing that might contribute to antisocial behavior. We predicted that vmPFC, amygdala, PCC, and ACC would show abnormal neural response during a moral processing task in incarcerated methamphetamine and cocaine users. METHODS Incarcerated adult males (N = 211) were scanned with a mobile MRI system while completing a moral decision-making task. Lifetime drug use was assessed. Neural responses during moral processing were compared between users and non-users. The relationship between duration of use and neural function was also examined. RESULTS Incarcerated stimulant users showed less amygdala engagement than non-users during moral processing. Duration of stimulant use was negatively associated with activity in ACC and positively associated with vmPFC response during moral processing. CONCLUSIONS These results suggest a dynamic pattern of fronto-limbic moral processing related to stimulant use with deficits in both central motive and cognitive integration elements of biological moral processes theory. This increases our understanding of how drug use relates to moral processing in the brain in an ultra-high-risk population.
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Affiliation(s)
- Samantha J. Fede
- University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM,Mind Research Network, Albuquerque, NM
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | - Vince C. Calhoun
- University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM,Mind Research Network, Albuquerque, NM
| | - Kent A. Kiehl
- University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM,Mind Research Network, Albuquerque, NM
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13
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Bedi G, Shiffrin L, Vadhan NP, Nunes EV, Foltin RW, Bisaga A. Effects of levodopa-carbidopa-entacapone and smoked cocaine on facial affect recognition in cocaine smokers. J Psychopharmacol 2016; 30:370-7. [PMID: 26921145 PMCID: PMC4794345 DOI: 10.1177/0269881115626308] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/28/2023]
Abstract
In addition to difficulties in daily social functioning, regular cocaine users have decrements in social processing (the cognitive and affective processes underlying social behavior) relative to non-users. Little is known, however, about the effects of clinically-relevant pharmacological agents, such as cocaine and potential treatment medications, on social processing in cocaine users. Such drug effects could potentially alleviate or compound baseline social processing decrements in cocaine abusers. Here, we assessed the individual and combined effects of smoked cocaine and a potential treatment medication, levodopa-carbidopa-entacapone (LCE), on facial emotion recognition in cocaine smokers. Healthy non-treatment-seeking cocaine smokers (N = 14; two female) completed this 11-day inpatient within-subjects study. Participants received LCE (titrated to 400mg/100mg/200mg b.i.d.) for five days with the remaining time on placebo. The order of medication administration was counterbalanced. Facial emotion recognition was measured twice during target LCE dosing and twice on placebo: once without cocaine and once after repeated cocaine doses. LCE increased the response threshold for identification of facial fear, biasing responses away from fear identification. Cocaine had no effect on facial emotion recognition. Results highlight the possibility for candidate pharmacotherapies to have unintended impacts on social processing in cocaine users, potentially exacerbating already existing difficulties in this population.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gillinder Bedi
- Division on Substance Abuse, New York State Psychiatric Institute, and Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY, USA
| | - Laura Shiffrin
- Division on Substance Abuse, New York State Psychiatric Institute, and Department of Psychiatry, College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University, New York, NY
| | - Nehal P. Vadhan
- Department of Psychiatry, Stony Brook University School of Medicine
| | - Edward V. Nunes
- Division on Substance Abuse, New York State Psychiatric Institute, and Department of Psychiatry, College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University, New York, NY
| | - Richard W. Foltin
- Division on Substance Abuse, New York State Psychiatric Institute, and Department of Psychiatry, College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University, New York, NY
| | - Adam Bisaga
- Division on Substance Abuse, New York State Psychiatric Institute, and Department of Psychiatry, College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University, New York, NY
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Caldwell BM, Harenski CL, Harenski KA, Fede SJ, Steele VR, Koenigs MR, Kiehl KA. Abnormal frontostriatal activity in recently abstinent cocaine users during implicit moral processing. Front Hum Neurosci 2015; 9:565. [PMID: 26528169 PMCID: PMC4608360 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2015.00565] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/15/2015] [Accepted: 09/28/2015] [Indexed: 01/10/2023] Open
Abstract
Investigations into the neurobiology of moral cognition are often done by examining clinical populations characterized by diminished moral emotions and a proclivity toward immoral behavior. Psychopathy is the most common disorder studied for this purpose. Although cocaine abuse is highly co-morbid with psychopathy and cocaine-dependent individuals exhibit many of the same abnormalities in socio-affective processing as psychopaths, this population has received relatively little attention in moral psychology. To address this issue, the authors used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to record hemodynamic activity in 306 incarcerated male adults, stratified into regular cocaine users (n = 87) and a matched sample of non-cocaine users (n = 87), while viewing pictures that did or did not depict immoral actions and determining whether each depicted scenario occurred indoors or outdoors. Consistent with expectations, cocaine users showed abnormal neural activity in several frontostriatial regions during implicit moral picture processing compared to their non-cocaine using peers. This included reduced moral/non-moral picture discrimination in the vACC, vmPFC, lOFC, and left vSTR. Additionally, psychopathy was negatively correlated with activity in an overlapping region of the ACC and right lateralized vSTR. These results suggest that regular cocaine abuse may be associated with affective deficits which can impact relatively high-level processes like moral cognition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brendan M. Caldwell
- The Mind Research Network and Lovelace Biomedical and Environmental Research InstituteAlbuquerque, NM, USA
| | - Carla L. Harenski
- The Mind Research Network and Lovelace Biomedical and Environmental Research InstituteAlbuquerque, NM, USA
| | - Keith A. Harenski
- The Mind Research Network and Lovelace Biomedical and Environmental Research InstituteAlbuquerque, NM, USA
| | - Samantha J. Fede
- The Mind Research Network and Lovelace Biomedical and Environmental Research InstituteAlbuquerque, NM, USA
- Department of Psychology, University of New MexicoAlbuquerque, NM, USA
| | - Vaughn R. Steele
- Intramural Research Program, Neuroimaging Research Branch, National Institute of Drug Abuse, National Institutes of HealthBaltimore, MD, USA
| | - Michael R. Koenigs
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Wisconsin-MadisonMadison, WI, USA
| | - Kent A. Kiehl
- The Mind Research Network and Lovelace Biomedical and Environmental Research InstituteAlbuquerque, NM, USA
- Department of Psychology, University of New MexicoAlbuquerque, NM, USA
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15
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Crunelle CL, Kaag AM, van den Munkhof HE, Reneman L, Homberg JR, Sabbe B, van den Brink W, van Wingen G. Dysfunctional amygdala activation and connectivity with the prefrontal cortex in current cocaine users. Hum Brain Mapp 2015. [PMID: 26220024 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.22913] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Abstract
OBJECTIVES Stimulant use is associated with increased anxiety and a single administration of dexamphetamine increases amygdala activation to biologically salient stimuli in healthy individuals. Here, we investigate how current cocaine use affects amygdala activity and amygdala connectivity with the prefrontal cortex in response to biologically salient stimuli in an emotional face matching task (EFMT). EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN Amygdala activity and amygdala connectivity during the EFMT were assessed in 51 cocaine using males and 32 non-drug-using healthy males using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Within the cocaine use group, we explored whether amygdala activation was associated with age of first use of cocaine and duration of cocaine use to distinguish between amygdala activation alterations as a cause or a consequence of cocaine use. PRINCIPAL OBSERVATIONS We observed hyperactivity of the amygdala, thalamus, and hippocampus and reduced amygdala connectivity with the anterior cingulate gyrus in response to angry and fearful facial expressions in current cocaine users compared to controls. Increased amygdala activation was independently associated with earlier age of first cocaine use and with longer exposure to cocaine. CONCLUSIONS Our findings suggest that amygdala hyperactivity to biologically salient stimuli may represent a risk factor for an early onset of cocaine use and that prolonged cocaine use may further sensitize amygdala activation. High amygdala activation to emotional face processing in current cocaine users may result from low prefrontal control of the amygdala response to such stimuli.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cleo L Crunelle
- Department of Psychiatry, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.,Toxicological Center, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium
| | - Anne Marije Kaag
- Department of Radiology, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Hanna E van den Munkhof
- Department of Neurochemistry and Neuropharmacology, Institute of Biomedical Sciences of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Liesbeth Reneman
- Department of Radiology, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Judith R Homberg
- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition, and Behaviour, Centre for Neuroscience Radboud University Medical Centre, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Bernard Sabbe
- Collaborative Antwerp Psychiatric Research Institute, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium
| | - Wim van den Brink
- Department of Psychiatry, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Guido van Wingen
- Department of Psychiatry, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
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Ersche KD, Hagan CC, Smith DG, Jones PS, Calder AJ, Williams GB. In the face of threat: neural and endocrine correlates of impaired facial emotion recognition in cocaine dependence. Transl Psychiatry 2015; 5:e570. [PMID: 26080087 PMCID: PMC4471289 DOI: 10.1038/tp.2015.58] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/02/2014] [Revised: 02/27/2015] [Accepted: 03/24/2015] [Indexed: 01/24/2023] Open
Abstract
The ability to recognize facial expressions of emotion in others is a cornerstone of human interaction. Selective impairments in the recognition of facial expressions of fear have frequently been reported in chronic cocaine users, but the nature of these impairments remains poorly understood. We used the multivariate method of partial least squares and structural magnetic resonance imaging to identify gray matter brain networks that underlie facial affect processing in both cocaine-dependent (n = 29) and healthy male volunteers (n = 29). We hypothesized that disruptions in neuroendocrine function in cocaine-dependent individuals would explain their impairments in fear recognition by modulating the relationship with the underlying gray matter networks. We found that cocaine-dependent individuals not only exhibited significant impairments in the recognition of fear, but also for facial expressions of anger. Although recognition accuracy of threatening expressions co-varied in all participants with distinctive gray matter networks implicated in fear and anger processing, in cocaine users it was less well predicted by these networks than in controls. The weaker brain-behavior relationships for threat processing were also mediated by distinctly different factors. Fear recognition impairments were influenced by variations in intelligence levels, whereas anger recognition impairments were associated with comorbid opiate dependence and related reduction in testosterone levels. We also observed an inverse relationship between testosterone levels and the duration of crack and opiate use. Our data provide novel insight into the neurobiological basis of abnormal threat processing in cocaine dependence, which may shed light on new opportunities facilitating the psychosocial integration of these patients.
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Affiliation(s)
- K D Ersche
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
- Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - C C Hagan
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - D G Smith
- Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
- Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - P S Jones
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - A J Calder
- Medical Research Council Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, Cambridge, UK
| | - G B Williams
- Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
- Wolfson Brain Imaging Centre, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
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Abstract
Distinguishing dependent from recreational drug use can be a surprisingly difficult task, and the current means for identifying substance abuse can be inadequate or even misleading. In subjective self-reports, those who are most at risk may down play their consumption, not admitting to the full extent of their habit, and measures purely of quantity of use rarely capture the true nature of an individual's relationship to the drug, such as a psychological dependence on the substance. This trend is particularly true for heavy stimulant use, which is absent of the physical withdrawal symptoms that can help identify opiate or alcohol dependence. As such, a simple objective measure to help identify substance abuse, particularly in individuals who might not otherwise raise suspicion, would be a valuable tool in both clinical and experimental settings. We propose that the drug-word Stroop task, an objective assessment of attentional bias and distraction to salient drug-related stimuli, would be a valuable tool in helping to make these categorizations. This measure has been shown to correlate with drug craving, as well as to successfully distinguish dependent from recreational stimulant users and to help to predict outcomes in treatment-seeking individuals. Here, we survey prior literature on the drug-word Stroop task and provide a perspective on using the assessment as a potential diagnostic for drug use severity.
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18
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Functional changes of the reward system underlie blunted response to social gaze in cocaine users. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2014; 111:2842-7. [PMID: 24449854 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1317090111] [Citation(s) in RCA: 68] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Social interaction deficits in drug users likely impede treatment, increase the burden of the affected families, and consequently contribute to the high costs for society associated with addiction. Despite its significance, the neural basis of altered social interaction in drug users is currently unknown. Therefore, we investigated basal social gaze behavior in cocaine users by applying behavioral, psychophysiological, and functional brain-imaging methods. In study I, 80 regular cocaine users and 63 healthy controls completed an interactive paradigm in which the participants' gaze was recorded by an eye-tracking device that controlled the gaze of an anthropomorphic virtual character. Valence ratings of different eye-contact conditions revealed that cocaine users show diminished emotional engagement in social interaction, which was also supported by reduced pupil responses. Study II investigated the neural underpinnings of changes in social reward processing observed in study I. Sixteen cocaine users and 16 controls completed a similar interaction paradigm as used in study I while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging. In response to social interaction, cocaine users displayed decreased activation of the medial orbitofrontal cortex, a key region of reward processing. Moreover, blunted activation of the medial orbitofrontal cortex was significantly correlated with a decreased social network size, reflecting problems in real-life social behavior because of reduced social reward. In conclusion, basic social interaction deficits in cocaine users as observed here may arise from altered social reward processing. Consequently, these results point to the importance of reinstatement of social reward in the treatment of stimulant addiction.
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Hulka LM, Preller KH, Vonmoos M, Broicher SD, Quednow BB. Cocaine users manifest impaired prosodic and cross-modal emotion processing. Front Psychiatry 2013; 4:98. [PMID: 24046750 PMCID: PMC3763688 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2013.00098] [Citation(s) in RCA: 38] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/01/2013] [Accepted: 08/20/2013] [Indexed: 11/26/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND A small number of previous studies have provided evidence that cocaine users (CU) exhibit impairments in complex social cognition tasks, while the more basic facial emotion recognition is widely unaffected. However, prosody and cross-modal emotion processing has not been systematically investigated in CU so far. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to assess complex multisensory emotion processing in CU in comparison to controls and to examine a potential association with drug use patterns. METHOD The abbreviated version of the comprehensive affect testing system (CATS-A) was used to measure emotion perception across the three channels of facial affect, prosody, and semantic content in 58 CU and 48 healthy control (HC) subjects who were matched for age, sex, verbal intelligence, and years of education. RESULTS CU had significantly lower scores than controls in the quotient scales of "emotion recognition" and "prosody recognition" and the subtests "conflicting prosody/meaning - attend to prosody" and "match emotional prosody to emotional face" either requiring to attend to prosody or to integrate cross-modal information. In contrast, no group difference emerged for the "affect recognition quotient." Cumulative cocaine doses and duration of cocaine use correlated negatively with emotion processing. CONCLUSION CU show impaired cross-modal integration of different emotion processing channels particularly with regard to prosody, whereas more basic aspects of emotion processing such as facial affect perception are comparable to the performance of HC.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lea M Hulka
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, and Psychosomatics, Experimental and Clinical Pharmacopsychology, University Hospital of Psychiatry Zurich , Zurich , Switzerland
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