Abstract
BackgroundVery little is known about the neural circuitry underlying anger processing among alcoholics. The purpose of this study was to examine the altered brain activity of alcoholic individuals during transient anger emotion.MethodsUsing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), 18 male patients diagnosed with alcohol dependence in an inpatient alcohol treatment facility and 16 social drinkers with similar demographics were scanned during the viewing of anger-provoking film clips.ResultsWhile there was no significant difference in the level of experienced anger between alcohol-dependent patients and non-alcoholic controls, significantly greater activation was observed in the bilateral dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) and the right precentral gyrus among alcoholic patients compared to the normal controls.ConclusionsIn summary, specific brain regions were identified that are associated with anger among patients with alcohol dependency.
Highlights
Very little is known about the neural circuitry underlying anger processing among alcoholics
This study aimed to investigate emotional and neural reactivity, to an anger stimulus in alcoholdependent patients as compared with healthy controls using functional magnetic resonance imaging
Behavioral results With respect to the experiment, we found that the majority of the participants stated anger as the primary emotion provoked by the experimental condition, except for two subjects in each group
Summary
Very little is known about the neural circuitry underlying anger processing among alcoholics. Compared to cerebral and cognitive impairments, emotional deficit in alcohol dependency is studied relatively little [5, 6]. Verbitskaya and colleagues [12] found less and shorter affiliative behaviors in patients (e.g., smiling, looking at the interviewer) than in the controls. This result is consistent with Dethier and Blairy’s study [6] that reported alcohol-dependent patients had exhibited fewer positive emotional facial expressions (EFEs) and more negative EFEs compared to control participants while watching a series of EFEs of different emotional categories. Studies that videotaped alcohol-dependent couples and families’ emotions during a discussion of a personally relevant issue showed globally (verbally and nonverbally) less positive emotions and more negative emotions compared with control couples and families [13, 14]
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