Alcohol-induced suppression of BOLD activity during goal-directed visuomotor performance

• Published in: NeuroImage (Orlando, Fla.) Fla.), 2006-07, Vol.31 (3), p.1209-1221
• Main Authors: Van Horn, John Darrell, Yanos, Melana, Schmitt, Paul J., Grafton, Scott T.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Alcohol use; Alcoholic Intoxication - physiopathology; Brain; Brain - drug effects; Brain - physiopathology; Brain Mapping; Cerebellum - drug effects; Cerebellum - physiopathology; Dominance, Cerebral - physiology; Double-Blind Method; Ethanol - administration & dosage; Ethanol - blood; Female; Frontal Lobe - drug effects; Frontal Lobe - physiopathology; Humans; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; Imaging, Three-Dimensional; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Male; Matched-Pair Analysis; Nerve Net - drug effects; Nerve Net - physiology; Orientation - drug effects; Orientation - physiology; Oxygen - blood; Parietal Lobe - drug effects; Parietal Lobe - physiology; Pattern Recognition, Visual - drug effects; Pattern Recognition, Visual - physiology; Psychomotor Performance - drug effects; Psychomotor Performance - physiology; Reaction Time - drug effects; Reaction Time - physiology; Studies
• ISSN: 1053-8119; 1095-9572
• DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2006.01.020

The neurophysiological influence of alcohol produces deficits of many cognitive functions, including executive and motor control processes. This study examined the acute effects of alcohol in the context of goal-directed visuomotor performance during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Subjects consumed alcohol-laced gelatin during one scan session and non-alcoholic placebo gelatin in another. During each session, subjects performed a visuomotor target capture where they received continuous or terminal positional feedback information. Blood–oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) activity in the cerebellum was suppressed in the presence of alcohol, consistent with the known ethanol sensitivity of the cerebellum. A fronto-parietal network was identified as most affected by alcohol consumption, with differential patterns of BOLD contingent on visual feedback. Results indicate that alcohol selectively suppresses cognitive activity in frontal and posterior parietal brain regions that, in conjunction with cerebellar nuclei, are believed to contribute to the formation of internal cognitive models of motor representation and action.