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Abnormal fronto-limbic engagement in incarcerated stimulant users during moral processing.

Samantha J Fede1,2, Carla L Harenski3, Jana Schaich Borg4

  • 1University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA. sjfede@unm.edu.

Psychopharmacology
|July 13, 2016
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Summary

Stimulant use in incarcerated individuals is linked to altered brain activity in regions crucial for moral decision-making. This study reveals how cocaine and methamphetamine affect the amygdala, ACC, and vmPFC, impacting sociomoral processing.

Keywords:
ACCCocaineLimbicMethamphetamineMoralityStimulantfMRIvmPFC

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Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Psychiatry
  • Criminology

Background:

  • Stimulant use, including cocaine and methamphetamine, is prevalent in criminal populations.
  • Previous research links stimulant use to impaired emotion identification and empathy.
  • Abnormalities in brain regions like the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), amygdala, anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), and posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) are associated with stimulant use and are implicated in moral decision-making.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the neural correlates of stimulant use and explicit moral processing in incarcerated individuals.
  • To examine how stimulant use affects sociomoral processing, potentially contributing to antisocial behavior.
  • To compare neural responses during a moral processing task between incarcerated stimulant users and non-users.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized a mobile MRI system to scan 211 incarcerated adult males during a moral decision-making task.
  • Assessed lifetime drug use history for all participants.
  • Compared neural responses during moral processing between stimulant users and non-users, and examined the relationship between duration of use and neural function.

Main Results:

  • Incarcerated stimulant users exhibited reduced amygdala engagement compared to non-users during moral processing.
  • The duration of stimulant use showed a negative association with activity in the ACC.
  • A positive association was observed between the duration of stimulant use and vmPFC response during moral processing.

Conclusions:

  • Findings suggest a complex interplay between stimulant use and fronto-limbic brain activity during moral processing.
  • Results indicate deficits in both motivational and cognitive integration aspects of moral processing in stimulant users.
  • This research enhances understanding of how drug use impacts brain mechanisms underlying moral processing in a high-risk population.