Lungwitz, Elizabeth A.Dzemidzic, MarioShen, Yitong I.Plawecki, Martin H.Oberlin, Brandon G.2024-03-082024-03-082023-07-06Lungwitz EA, Dzemidzic M, Shen YI, Plawecki MH, Oberlin BG. Brain response in heavy drinkers during cross-commodity alcohol and money discounting with potentially real rewards: A preliminary study. Drug Alcohol Depend Rep. 2023;8:100175. Published 2023 Jul 6. doi:10.1016/j.dadr.2023.100175https://hdl.handle.net/1805/39102Background: Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is associated with exaggerated preference for immediate rewards, a candidate endophenotype for use disorders. Addiction symptomology is often well-described by the preference for immediate intoxication over other delayed prosocial rewards. We measured brain activation in AUD-implicated regions during a cross-commodity delay discounting (CCD) task with choices for immediate alcohol and delayed money. Methods: Heavy drinkers (n=24) experienced a brief intravenous alcohol infusion prime, regained sobriety, then chose between 'One Shot' and delayed money in an adjusting delay CCD task (sober and intoxicated); also during fMRI (sober). Participants also performed a behavioral sensation seeking task and completed self-report inventories of other risk factors. We assessed brain activation to choices representing immediate intoxication versus delayed money rewards in a priori regions of interest defined within the framework of Addictions NeuroImaging Assessment. Results: Activation to CCD choice versus control trials activated paralimbic and ventral frontal cortical regions, including orbital and medial prefrontal cortex, posterior cingulate/retrosplenial cortex, angular and superior frontal gyri. We detected no differences between immediate or delayed choices. Left medial orbitofrontal cortex activation correlated with alcohol-induced wanting for alcohol; females showed greater activation than males. Behavioral sensation seeking correlated with right nucleus accumbens task engagement. Conclusions: Alcohol decision-making elicited activation in regions governing reward, introspection, and executive decision-making in heavy drinkers, demonstrating the utility of laboratory tasks designed to better model real-world choice. Our findings suggest that the brain processes subserving immediate and delayed choices are mostly overlapping, even with varied commodities.en-USAttribution 4.0 InternationalAlcoholismIntertemporal choiceEthanolDelayed reward discountingReinforcerVentral striatumArticle