Open AccessVariable activation in striatal subregions across components of a social influence task in young adult cannabis users
Author(s) -
Gilman Jodi M.,
Lee Sang,
Kuster John K.,
Lee Myung Joo,
Kim Byoung Woo,
Kouwe Andre,
Blood Anne J.,
Breiter Hans C.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
brain and behavior
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.915
H-Index - 41
ISSN - 2162-3279
DOI - 10.1002/brb3.459
Subject(s) - ventral striatum , psychology , striatum , nucleus accumbens , functional magnetic resonance imaging , cannabis , context (archaeology) , social influence , young adult , caudate nucleus , neuroscience , clinical psychology , developmental psychology , social psychology , psychiatry , central nervous system , biology , dopamine , paleontology
Decades of research have demonstrated the importance of social influence in initiation and maintenance of drug use, but little is known about neural mechanisms underlying social influence in young adults who use recreational drugs. Methods To better understand whether the neural and/or behavioral response to social influence differs in young adults using illicit drugs, 20 marijuana‐using young adults ( MJ ) aged 18–25, and 20 controls ( CON ) performed a decision‐making task in the context of social influence, while they underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging scans. A priori analyses focused on the nucleus accumbens ( NA c), with post hoc analyses in the rest of the striatum. In this task, participants could choose to either follow or go against group influence. Results When subjects applied social information to response choice selection (independent of following or going against group influence), we observed activation in the middle striatum (caudate), in the MJ group only, that extended ventrally into the NA c. MJ users but not CON showed greater activation in the NA c but not the caudate while making choices congruent with group influence as opposed to choices going against group influence. Activation in the NA c when following social influence was associated with amount of drug use reported. In contrast, during the feedback phase of the task we observed significant NA c activation in both MJ and CON , along with dorsal caudate activation only in MJ participants. This NA c activation did not correlate with drug use. Conclusions This study shows that MJ users, but not CON , show differential brain activation across striatal subregions when applying social information to make a decision, following versus going against a group of peers, or receiving positive feedback. The current work suggests that differential neural sensitivity to social influence in regions such as the striatum may contribute to the development and/or maintenance of marijuana use.