@article{ref1,
title="Alcohol intoxication effects on visual perception: an fMRI study",
journal="Human brain mapping",
year="2004",
author="Calhoun, Vince D. and Altschul, David and McGinty, Vince B. and Shih, R. and Scott, Daniel and Sears, Edie and Pearlson, Godfrey D.",
volume="21",
number="1",
pages="15-26",
abstract="We examined the effects of two doses of alcohol (EtOH) on functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) activation during a visual perception task. The Motor-Free Visual Perception Test-Revised (MVPT-R) provides measures of overall visual perceptual processing ability. It incorporates different cognitive elements including visual discrimination, spatial relationships, and mental rotation. We used the MVPT-R to study brain activation patterns in healthy controls (1) sober, and (2) at two doses of alcohol intoxication with event-related fMRI. The fMRI data were analyzed using a general linear model approach based upon a model of the time course and a hemodynamic response estimate. Additionally, a correlation analysis was performed to examine dose-dependent amplitude changes. With regard to alcohol-free task-related brain activation, we replicate our previous finding in which SPM group analysis revealed robust activation in visual and visual association areas, frontal eye field (FEF)/dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), and the supplemental motor area (SMA). Consistent with a previous study of EtOH and visual stimulation, EtOH resulted in a dose-dependent decrease in activation amplitude over much of the visual perception network and in a decrease in the maximum contrast-to-noise ratio (in the lingual gyrus). Despite only modest behavior changes (in the expected direction), significant dose-dependent activation increases were observed in insula, DLPFC, and precentral regions, whereas dose-dependent activation decreases were observed in anterior and posterior cingulate, precuneus, and middle frontal areas. Some areas (FEF/DLPFC/SMA) became more diffusely activated (i.e., increased in spatial extent) at the higher dose. Alcohol, thus, appears to have both global and local effects upon the neural correlates of the MVPT-R task, some of which are dose dependent.",
language="",
issn="1065-9471",
doi="10.1002/hbm.10145",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/hbm.10145"
}