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Disruption of Frontal Lobe Neural Synchrony During Cognitive Control by Alcohol Intoxication
Published on: February 6, 2019
Social cognition in alcoholism: a link to prefrontal cortex dysfunction?
Jennifer Uekermann1, Irene Daum
1Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Ruhr-University of Bochum, Bochum, Germany. jennifer.uekermann@ruhr-uni-bochum.de
Alcoholism causes social cognition impairments, affecting emotional processing and theory of mind. These deficits support the frontal lobe hypothesis of alcoholism.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Psychiatry
- Cognitive Psychology
Background:
- Alcoholism is linked to widespread cognitive deficits.
- The frontal lobe hypothesis posits prefrontal cortex (PFC) vulnerability to alcohol's neurotoxic effects.
- Social cognition, largely processed in the PFC, is under-researched in alcoholism.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review social cognition deficits in alcoholic patients.
- To explore the link between these deficits and the frontal lobe hypothesis.
- To outline future research directions.
Main Methods:
- Literature search of Medline and Psyclit databases.
- Covered a 30-year period (1977-2007).
Main Results:
- Alcoholism is clearly associated with social cognition impairments.
- Deficits include difficulties in emotional face and prosody perception.
- Impairments extend to theory of mind and humor processing.
Conclusions:
- Social cognition deficits in alcoholism align with the frontal lobe hypothesis.
- Future research should identify underlying cognitive processes.
- Investigate the predictive value of these deficits for treatment outcomes.
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