Palm Trees

Brain Behavior Tests Identify Treatment Opportunities for Cocaine Abusers

Most people know that using cocaine can have a lasting physical impact on the body of the user. Now, a brain-imaging study shows that parts of the brain involved in monitoring behaviors and emotions produce different levels of activity in cocaine users compared to non-drug users.

This study was reported in Science Daily and was conducted at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory. It suggests that impairments from cocaine use may underlie addictive vulnerability. As a result, treatments that aim at improving these functions could help individuals with cocaine addiction resist drugs.

"Many studies have found decreased brain activity in drug-addicted individuals relative to healthy control subjects during psychological tests," said lead author Rita Goldstein, a psychologist at Brookhaven Lab, in the Science Daily piece.

"But it's never been clear if these differences were due to varying levels of interest or ability between the two groups. This is the first study to look at two groups matched for performance and interest — and we still see dramatic differences in the brain regions that play a very significant role in the ability to monitor behavior and regulate emotion, which are both important to resisting drug use.

During this study, cocaine users and demographically matched healthy control subjects participated in psychiatric tests with monetary rewards promised for correct answers. Both groups performed well on the same test while lying in an MRI scanner. The machine was used to measure the amount of oxygen being used by specific regions of the brain.

The three main differences identified were that cocaine users had reduced activity in the portion of the brain that generally becomes more active when monitoring behavior. This level was especially low during silent portions of the tests, or at times when there was no monetary gain in that portion of the test.

Cocaine users also had reduced activity in the portion of the brain that usually becomes less active when someone is suppressing emotional feelings. In addicted individuals, the functions within the behavior-monitoring and emotion-monitoring brain regions were not interconnected as they were in healthy subjects.

These findings point to the impact that improving activity in the behavior-monitoring brain region could have on drug users. Treatments that are aimed at strengthening activity in the emotion-monitoring brain region may go a long way in helping addicts regain control and overcome their addiction.