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Science Brain inactivity makes threats look friendly when drunk
Science Brain inactivity makes threats look friendly when drunk | Brain inactivity makes threats look friendly when drunk |
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| by William Atkins | |
| Thursday, 01 May 2008 | |
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Page 2 of 2 While the subjects were being scanned with fMRIs, the subjects were shown faces of various people. Some faces were neutral in appearance (showing no type of emotion), while others showed expressions of fear. The fMRI scans showed that the sober subjects had increased neuron activity in such emotion-processing parts of the brain as the amygdale (almond shaped part of brain located deep within medial temporal lobes), insula cortex (within lateral sulcus), and parahippocampal gyrus (surrounds hippocampus) when they were shown faces that were full of fear. The object recognition portions of the brain also showed increased activity. However, the same brain areas (object recognition and emotion assessing parts) in the subjects that were taking in alcohol eventually did not respond to the fear in the faces shown to them. The researchers found that the intoxicated subjects loosened their inhibitions in social situations, which often made for inappropriate decisions and behaviors on their part. They discovered that neural circuits in the visual (object recognition) parts of the brain and in parts of the brain that assess emotions (such as threats) are not as active when people are inebriated or drunk as when cpeople are sober. At the same time, the researches found that these inebriated subjects had lower anxiety levels when in social situations, which allowed them to make decisions they would not make normally. In other words, their actions were not well thought out and often resulted in unwise behaviors. One of the researchers in the study was Jodi M. Gilman, a NIAAA research fellow. She stated, “If you are not processing the fact that there’s a threat, you might be less cautious. ” [Science News] U.S. addiction researcher Marina Wolf, at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science (North Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.), who was not associated with the study, stated that this study is the first of its type that provides scientific evidence as to the relationship of alcohol and threat assessment in the brain. Wolf stated. “By showing that alcohol exerts this effect in normal volunteers by acting on specific brain circuits, these study results make it harder for someone to believe that risky decision-making after alcohol ‘doesn’t apply to me.’” [Science News] This article is based on the Science News article “Friend or foe? Drunk, the brain can’t tell” by Tina Hesman Sae. |
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