Dataset Information

Hyperactivation to pleasant interoceptive stimuli characterizes the transition to stimulant addiction.

ABSTRACT:

Aims

Altered interoception, how the brain processes afferents from the body, may contribute to the urge to take drugs, and subsequently, the development of addiction. Although chronic stimulant dependent individuals exhibit attenuated brain responses to pleasant interoceptive stimuli, it is unclear whether this deficit exists early-on in the process of transition to stimulant addiction.

Methods

To this end, we compared problem stimulant users (PSU; n=18), desisted stimulant users (DSU; n=15), and stimulant naïve comparison subjects (CTL; n=15) during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while they anticipated and experienced pleasant soft touch (slow brushstroke to the palm and forearm).

Results

Groups did not differ in behavioral performance or visual analog scale ratings of soft touch stimuli. fMRI results indicated that PSU exhibited greater right anterior insula, left inferior frontal gyrus, and right superior frontal gyrus activation than DSU and CTL during the anticipation and experience of soft touch. Moreover, during the experience of soft touch, PSU demonstrated higher bilateral precentral gyrus/middle insula and right posterior temporal gyrus activation than DSU and CTL.

Conclusions

In contrast to chronic stimulant dependence, individuals who have recently developed stimulant use disorders show exaggerated neural processing of pleasant interoceptive stimuli. Thus, increased processing of body-relevant information signaling pleasant touch in those individuals who develop problem use may be a predictive interoceptive biomarker. However, future investigations will need to determine whether the combination of probing pleasant interoception using neuroimaging is sufficiently sensitive and specific to help identify individuals at high risk for future problem use.

SUBMITTER: Stewart JL

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4537790 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Hyperactivation to pleasant interoceptive stimuli characterizes the transition to stimulant addiction.

Stewart Jennifer L JL May April C AC Tapert Susan F SF Paulus Martin P MP

Drug and alcohol dependence 20150717

<h4>Aims</h4>Altered interoception, how the brain processes afferents from the body, may contribute to the urge to take drugs, and subsequently, the development of addiction. Although chronic stimulant dependent individuals exhibit attenuated brain responses to pleasant interoceptive stimuli, it is unclear whether this deficit exists early-on in the process of transition to stimulant addiction.<h4>Methods</h4>To this end, we compared problem stimulant users (PSU; n=18), desisted stimulant users ...[more]

PMID: 26228575

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Project description:Interoceptive accuracy is an index of the ability to perceive an individual's internal bodily state, including heartbeat and respiration. Individual differences in interoceptive accuracy influence emotional recognition through autonomic nervous activity. However, the precise mechanism by which interoceptive accuracy affects autonomic reactivity remains unclear. Here, we investigated how cardiac reactivity induced by a non-affective external rhythm differed among individuals, using a heartbeat counting task. Because individuals with poor interoceptive accuracy cannot distinguish an external rhythm from their cardiac cycles, it has been hypothesized that the interoceptive effect on heart rate works differently in individuals with good interoceptive accuracy and those with poor interoceptive accuracy. Study participants observed a visual or auditory stimulus presented at a rhythm similar to the participants' resting heart rates. The stimulus rhythm was gradually changed from that of their resting heart rate, and we recorded electrocardiographs while participants were exposed to the stimuli. Individuals with good interoceptive accuracy exhibited a deceleration in heart rate when the rhythm of the auditory stimulus changed. In contrast, in the group with poor interoceptive accuracy, the heart rate decreased only when the stimulus became faster. They were unable to distinguish the rhythm of their own heartbeat from that of the external rhythm; therefore, we propose that such individuals recognize the stimuli at the pace of their heart rate. Individuals with good interoceptive accuracy were able to distinguish their heart rates from the external rhythm. A modality difference was not observed in this study, which suggests that both visual and auditory stimuli help mimic heart rate. These results may provide physiological evidence that autonomic reactivity influences the perception of the internal bodily state, and that interoception and the autonomic state interact to some degree.

Dataset Information

Hyperactivation to pleasant interoceptive stimuli characterizes the transition to stimulant addiction.

Aims

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Publications

Hyperactivation to pleasant interoceptive stimuli characterizes the transition to stimulant addiction.

Similar Datasets

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