Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 1, 2026

Chronic Intermittent Ethanol Vapor Exposure Paired with Two-Bottle Choice to Model Alcohol Use Disorder
Published on: June 23, 2023
Neural and behavioral mechanisms of impulsive choice in alcohol use disorder
Eric D Claus1, Kent A Kiehl, Kent E Hutchison
1Mind Research Network, 1101 Yale Blvd. NE, Albuquerque, NM 87106, USA. eclaus@mrn.org
Background:
Alcohol dependence has repeatedly been associated with impulsive choice, or the inability to choose large delayed rewards over smaller, but more immediate rewards. However, the neural basis of impulsive choice in alcohol use disorders (AUDs) is not well understood.
Methods:
One hundred fifty-one individuals with a range of alcohol use from social drinking to severe alcohol dependence completed a delay discounting task while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging. Participants received customized trials designed to ensure an approximately equivalent number of immediate responses.
Results:
Delaying gratification recruited regions involved in cognitive control, conflict monitoring, and the interpretation of somatic states. Individuals with more severe alcohol use problems showed increased discounting of delayed rewards and greater activation in several regions including supplementary motor area, insula/orbitofrontal cortex, inferior frontal gyrus, and the precuneus.
Conclusions:
These results suggest that impulsive choice in alcohol dependence is the result of functional anomalies in widely distributed, but interconnected brain regions involved in cognitive and emotional control. Furthermore, our results suggest that the neural mechanisms of impulsive choice in AUD both overlaps with that observed in previous studies, and shows that individuals with AUD recruit additional mechanisms when making intertemporal choices.
Related Concept Videos
Drug Abuse and Addiction: Pharmacological Phenomena
Substance Use Disorders Affecting Sleep
Understanding the concepts of physical dependence,...
Reason and Intuition
CNS Depressants: Alcohol and Nicotine
Self-Presentation: Self-Monitoring and Self-Handicapping
Instinctive Drift

