Researchers Discover Disordered Alcohol Use Leads to Poor Functional Brain Connectivity

A recently published study has found that modified neural activity patterns may compromise the ability of some individuals to interpret facial expressions. The researchers found that individuals predisposed to alcohol problems and heavy drinking may have altered signaling patterns in regions of the brain that process social situations and emotions.

In their report, the researchers explained that differences in brain connectivity could help forecast future alcohol use for an individual as well as offer the basis for new interventions for the prevention and treatment of alcohol use disorder. The risk of developing alcohol use problems has been linked to a person’s level of response to alcohol, or how many drinks they must down before experiencing the alcohol’s effects.

Unlike individuals with a high level of response, those with low-response levels tend to consume more alcohol, which leads to the development of disordered alcohol use as time goes by. Previous research has shown that people with low-response levels noted reduced activity in certain regions in the brain, including the amygdala, or the region the brain that processes rewards and emotions.

Ben McKenna, the first author of the study, explained that the ability of people to read facial expressions affected the way they interpreted a situation and shifted their behavior, noting that not being able to process this emotional and social information properly would impact a person’s behavior, including their choice to continue or stop drinking.

For their study, the researchers recruited more than 100 young individuals with no history of issues with alcohol. The participants were characterized as having high or low levels of response to alcohol with each being asked to consume a nonalcoholic placebo drink or a small amount of alcohol then carry out a task to identify fearful, angry and happy faces while their brain activity was measured using fMRI.

They discovered that even without consuming alcohol, individuals with low-response levels had lower functional connectivity between the frontal lobes and the amygdala, and the parietal and insula regions when they processed the emotional faces. The researchers noted that this connectivity decreased further after alcohol was consumed in those with low-response levels and increased in participants with high levels of response.

The study was carried out by researchers at the School of Medicine at the University of California San Diego. Its findings were published in “Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research.” This study’s coauthors were Tom L. Smith and Robert M. Anthenelli.

Alcohol use disorder has been on the rise, and now more than ever before the world needs a new line of treatment, perhaps in line with what entities such Cybin Inc. (NYSE American: CYBN) (NEO: CYBN) are researching, including evaluating psychedelics to combat this epidemic.

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