Methamphetamine (MA) abuse is an international public health concern. Individuals dependent on MA suffer from disturbances in emotional response and abnormalities in behavior indicative of emotional dysregulation. The ability to perceive and evaluate emotional stimuli and to consciously regulate emotional response is dependent on the integrity of specific brain regions and their interconnections.
The first aim of this project is to identify the brain regions and the neural networks that show dysfunction during the response to negative emotional stimuli.
The second aim i s to identify abnormalities in brain function that occur while attempting to use cognitive reappraisal to decrease the strength of the negative emotion elicited. Cognitive reappraisal is a type of emotion regulation strategy taught in cognitive behavioral therapy;currently, behavioral therapy is the only successful treatment for MA dependence. We will use functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to evaluate brain function and images from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS) to elicit negative emotions during the first 4-7 days of MA abstinence, the time during treatment when most are vulnerable to relapse.
| Payer, Doris E; Baicy, Kate; Lieberman, Matthew D et al. (2012) Overlapping neural substrates between intentional and incidental down-regulation of negative emotions. Emotion 12:229-35 |
| Tabibnia, Golnaz; Monterosso, John R; Baicy, Kate et al. (2011) Different forms of self-control share a neurocognitive substrate. J Neurosci 31:4805-10 |
| Baicy, Kate; London, Edythe D; Monterosso, John et al. (2007) Leptin replacement alters brain response to food cues in genetically leptin-deficient adults. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 104:18276-9 |
