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The effect of intravenous alcohol on the neural correlates of risky decision making in healthy social drinkers

Year: 2011

Type: article

Abstract: Alcohol is thought to contribute to an increase in risk-taking behavior, but the neural correlates underlying this effect are not well understood. In this study, participants were given intravenous alcohol or placebo while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and playing a risk-taking game. The game allowed us to examine the neural response to choosing a safe or risky option, anticipating outcome and receiving feedback. We found that alcohol increased risk-taking behavior, particularly among participants who experienced more stimulating effects of alcohol. fMRI scans demonstrated that alcohol increased activation in the striatum to risky compared with safe choices and dampened the neural response to notification of both winning and losing throughout the caudate, thalamus and insula. This study suggests that alcohol may increase risk-taking behavior by both activating brain regions involved in reward when a decision is made, and dampening the response to negative and positive feedback.

Source: Addiction Biology

DOI: 10.1111/j.1369-1600.2011.00383.x

Authors: Jodi M. Gilman, Ashley R. Smith, Vijay A. Ramchandani, Reza Momenan, Daniel W. Hommer

Institutions: National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism

Language: English

Topic: Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies

Subfield: Cognitive Neuroscience

Field: Neuroscience

Domain: Life Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: green

Funders: National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism