Biological psychiatry
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Biological psychiatry · Apr 2011
Individuals family history positive for alcoholism show functional magnetic resonance imaging differences in reward sensitivity that are related to impulsivity factors.
Substance-abusing individuals tend to display abnormal reward processing and a vulnerability to being impulsive. Detoxified alcoholics show differences in regional brain activation during a monetary incentive delay task. However, there is limited information on whether this uncharacteristic behavior represents a biological predisposition toward alcohol abuse, a consequence of chronic alcohol use, or both. ⋯ Overall, results demonstrate that sensitivity of the reward circuit, including NAcc, is functionally different in alcoholism family history positive individuals in multiple regards.