Alcohol intoxication is responsible for a large proportion of violent crime/assault and
personal injury in our society. While a number of variables have been associated with
alcohol-related aggression, high trait aggression and impaired executive function have been
identified as key factors. Both Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) and Impulsive Aggression behavior
(AGG) are related to impaired social-emotional information processing (SEIP) whereby social
threat cues, especially ones that are ambiguous in nature, lead to hostile attribution and
negative emotional response to the "other" and, then, aggression against the "other". Thus,
understanding the underlying neuroscience of SEIP under the influence of alcohol will be
critical to identifying targets for intervention to reduce alcohol-related aggressive
behavior. In addition to potential pharmacologic and cognitive-behavioral based
interventions, such interventions may also involve the rehabilitation of aberrant neuronal
circuits underlying social cognitive function through neuroplasticity-based remediation
exercises. This study is designed to see how brain activation of cortico-limbic circuits
involving social-emotional information processing, analyzed by fMRI Imaging, are impacted by
alcohol administration in those with and without aggressive disorders and with and without
alcohol use disorder.
Phase:
Phase 2
Details
Lead Sponsor:
Ohio State University
Collaborator:
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)