Elizabeth M Burnette1, Erica N Grodin2, Dara G Ghahremani3, Adriana Galván4, Milky Kohno5, Lara A Ray6, Edythe D London7. 1. Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, United States; Neuroscience Interdepartmental Program, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, United States. Electronic address: eburnette@g.ucla.edu. 2. Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, United States; Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, UCLA School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA, United States. 3. Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, UCLA School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA, United States. 4. Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, United States; Neuroscience Interdepartmental Program, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, United States; Brain Research Institute, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, United States. 5. Department of Psychiatry, Oregon Health and Sciences University, Portland, OR, United States. 6. Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, United States; Neuroscience Interdepartmental Program, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, United States; Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, UCLA School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA, United States; Brain Research Institute, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, United States. 7. Neuroscience Interdepartmental Program, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, United States; Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, UCLA School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA, United States; Brain Research Institute, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, United States; Department of Molecular and Medical Pharmacology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, United States.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Risky decision-making is an important facet of addiction. Individuals with alcohol dependence show abnormalities in gambling and other risk-taking tasks. In one such measure, the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART), participants sequentially choose to pump a virtual balloon to increase potential reward while the risk of explosion increases, or to cash-out and take earnings. In a prior study, alcohol-dependent participants differed from controls in brain activation during decision-making on the BART, but the relationship between risk/reward magnitude and brain activation was not studied, nor were participants compared to controls. Here we compared the degree to which risk and magnitude of reward influenced brain activation in alcohol-dependent participants vs. controls during decision-making on the BART. METHODS: Thirty-two participants (16 alcohol-dependent, 16 control; 5 females/group) performed the BART during fMRI. A parametric analysis tested for a relationship between risk/reward magnitude and activation in rDLPFC and bilateral striatum regions of interest when participants chose to take risk or to cash out. An exploratory whole-brain voxel-wise analysis of mean activation during pumping, cash-out, and explosion events was also conducted. RESULTS: Compared with controls, alcohol-dependent participants displayed less modulation of activation in the rDLPFC when taking risk. Exploratory analyses found that alcohol-dependent participants showed less activation than controls during explosions in a cluster including the insula. No differences were seen in striatal activation. CONCLUSIONS: Insensitivity of the rDLPFC to risk and of the insula to loss may contribute to decision-making deficits in alcohol dependence.
BACKGROUND: Risky decision-making is an important facet of addiction. Individuals with alcohol dependence show abnormalities in gambling and other risk-taking tasks. In one such measure, the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART), participants sequentially choose to pump a virtual balloon to increase potential reward while the risk of explosion increases, or to cash-out and take earnings. In a prior study, alcohol-dependent participants differed from controls in brain activation during decision-making on the BART, but the relationship between risk/reward magnitude and brain activation was not studied, nor were participants compared to controls. Here we compared the degree to which risk and magnitude of reward influenced brain activation in alcohol-dependent participants vs. controls during decision-making on the BART. METHODS: Thirty-two participants (16 alcohol-dependent, 16 control; 5 females/group) performed the BART during fMRI. A parametric analysis tested for a relationship between risk/reward magnitude and activation in rDLPFC and bilateral striatum regions of interest when participants chose to take risk or to cash out. An exploratory whole-brain voxel-wise analysis of mean activation during pumping, cash-out, and explosion events was also conducted. RESULTS: Compared with controls, alcohol-dependent participants displayed less modulation of activation in the rDLPFC when taking risk. Exploratory analyses found that alcohol-dependent participants showed less activation than controls during explosions in a cluster including the insula. No differences were seen in striatal activation. CONCLUSIONS: Insensitivity of the rDLPFC to risk and of the insula to loss may contribute to decision-making deficits in alcohol dependence.