Neural activations during cognitive and affective theory of mind processing in healthy adults with a family history of alcohol use disorder.
Psychol Med
; 54(5): 1034-1044, 2024 Apr.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-37753626
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Social cognition impairments are a common feature of alcohol use disorders (AUD). However, it remains unclear whether these impairments are solely the consequence of chronic alcohol consumption or whether they could be a marker of vulnerability.METHODS:
The present study implemented a family history approach to address this question for a key process of social cognition theory of mind (ToM). Thirty healthy adults with a family history of AUD (FH+) and 30 healthy adults with a negative family history of AUD (FH-), matched for age, sex, and education level, underwent an fMRI cartoon-vignette paradigm assessing cognitive and affective ToM. Participants also completed questionnaires evaluating anxiety, depressive symptoms, childhood trauma, and alexithymia.RESULTS:
Results indicated that FH+ individuals differed from FH- individuals on affective but not cognitive ToM processing, at both the behavioral and neural levels. At the behavioral level, the FH+ group had lower response accuracy for affective ToM compared with the FH- group. At the neural level, the FH+ group had higher brain activations in the left insula and inferior frontal cortex during affective ToM processing. These activations remained significant when controlling for depressive symptoms, anxiety, and childhood trauma.CONCLUSIONS:
These findings highlight difficulties during affective ToM processing among first-degree relatives of AUD patients, supporting the idea that some of the impairments exhibited by these patients may already be present before the onset of AUD and may be considered a marker of vulnerability.Palavras-chave
Texto completo:
1
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Alcoolismo
/
Teoria da Mente
Limite:
Adult
/
Humans
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Psychol Med
Ano de publicação:
2024
Tipo de documento:
Article
País de afiliação:
França