Brain responses and approach bias to social alcohol cues and their association with drinking in a social setting in young adult males

Description: Alcohol is mainly consumed in social settings, in which people often adapt their drinking behavior to that of others. Yet, it remains unclear what drives this phenomenon; imitation of drinking behavior. In this study, we expected to see stronger brain and behavioral responses to social compared to non-social alcohol cues, and that this was associated with actual drinking in a social setting. The sample consisted of 153 beer-drinking males, aged 18-25 years. Brain responses to social alcohol cues were measured during an alcohol cue exposure task in the scanner. Behavioral responses to social alcohol cues were measured using a stimulus-response compatibility task, providing an index of approach bias towards these cues. Drinking in a social setting was measured in a Bar-Lab setting. Brain responses to social alcohol cues were observed in the bilateral superior temporal sulcus and the left inferior parietal lobe. There was no approach bias towards social alcohol cues specifically, however, we did find an approach bias towards alcohol (versus soda) cues in general. Brain responses and approach bias towards social alcohol cues were uncorrelated and not associated with imitation and drinking in a social setting. Concluding, we found no support for a relation between imitation or drinking in a social setting on the one hand, and brain cue-reactivity or behavioral approach biases to social alcohol cues on the other. This suggests that, in contrast to our hypothesis, drinking in a social setting does not seem to be driven by brain or behavioral responses to social alcohol cues.

Communities: developmental

Related article: http://doi.org/10.1111/ejn.14574