Neurocognitive Abnormalities in Stimulant Abuse Among High-Risk Women
The Mind Research Network
Summary
Substance use disorders and psychopathy are serious and costly mental health issues. Psychopathy is known to be associated with aberrant moral decision making and there is considerable interest in determining whether substance use disorders lead to impairments in these same cognitive processes. Recent large-scale research initiatives in forensic settings have begun to identify substance abuse and psychopathy-related disruption in the neural mechanisms involved in moral decision-making processes, and associations between these neural networks and future relapse and antisocial behavior. Here the investigators extend prior work (with incarcerated men) to examine these issues among incarcerated women in order to better understand sex differences. This project addresses the overall lack of neurocognitive research in criminal offenders with substance use disorders, thereby focusing on a major public health issue in an underserved and understudied population.
Description
There continues to be great interest and public health relevance with regard to understanding the neurobiological systems that underlie the comorbidity of substance use disorders and other psychiatric conditions. In a previous award, efforts were focused upon characterizing the neural circuitry underlying moral decision making in incarcerated men with varying levels of two frequently co-occurring conditions: stimulant abuse and psychopathy. Here this work will be extended to incarcerated women, to examine longitudinal outcomes and apply state-of-the-art network analyses for predictive models.…
Eligibility
- Age range
- 18–70 years
- Sex
- Female
- Healthy volunteers
- Yes
Inclusion Criteria: * Biological sex is female * Intelligence Quotient 70 or higher * Reading level 5th grade or higher * Able to speak and understand English Exclusion Criteria: * Uncorrectable auditory or visual deficits * Currently pregnant * MRI contraindication * Central nervous system disease * Current major medical condition * Hypertension with complications (e.g., stroke) * Diabetes with complications * Lifetime history of psychotic disorder * Self-report of psychotic disorder (with psychiatric hospitalization) in first degree relative * Drug use in past three months (Healthy contr…
Interventions
- OtherDecision task
Participants will complete a simple and/or moral decision making functional MRI task.
Location
- The Mind Research NetworkAlbuquerque, New Mexico