Original ArticleReduced Behavioral and Neural Activation in Stimulant Users to Different Error Rates during Decision Making
Section snippets
Participants
This study was approved by the University of California San Diego (UCSD) Institutional Review Board. All subjects were interviewed face-to-face using a structured diagnostic interview (SCID) (17), modified to enable us to document the use of illicit substances. Twelve young adults (aged 20.0 years, SD 2.6) who had used stimulants at least twice in the last 6 months were compared with 12 education-matched stimulant-naïve comparison subjects (aged 18.3 years, SD .9). Stimulant users were
Drug Usage and Behavioral Assessments
Based on the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM and questionnaire lifetime assessments, stimulant users had used amphetamine-like stimulants an average of 36 times (range: 0–240) and/or cocaine an average of 14 times (range: 0–40); they had used any type of stimulants for an average of 51 times (range: 2–240). Although individuals were recruited on the basis of their stimulant use, all of these individuals had used other illicit drugs (Table 1). In particular, stimulant users had used THC an
Discussion
This investigation yielded four main results. First, stimulant users relative to comparison subjects adjusted their choices less as a function of different error rates. Second, these subjects also showed an altered activation pattern in the left insular and bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, but not the anterior cingulate, as a function of error rate. Third, brain pattern differences were associated with an attenuated change in win-stay/lose-shift consistent responses. Fourth, relatively
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