Alcohol-related imagery disrupts moral processing in the brains of people with alcoholism. When individuals with alcohol use disorder were shown moral images paired with alcohol-related distractions, their brains showed less activity in regions associated with moral decision-making.

I’ve linked to the news release in the post above. In this comment, for those interested, here’s the link to the peer reviewed journal article:

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17470919.2024.2377666

From the linked article:

A recent study published in Social Neuroscience has provided new insights into how alcohol use disorder (also known as alcoholism) interferes with the brain’s ability to process moral cues. The researchers found that when individuals with alcohol use disorder were shown moral images paired with alcohol-related distractions, their brains showed less activity in regions associated with moral decision-making. This new understanding could help explain some of the behaviors seen in individuals struggling with alcoholism.

Moral cognition—our ability to make decisions about right and wrong—is a crucial aspect of social behavior. It allows us to function within society, balancing personal goals against the needs of others. But for individuals with alcohol use disorder, the ability to process moral situations may be impaired, which could contribute to problematic or antisocial behavior.

The results showed that individuals with alcohol use disorder had reduced activity in certain regions of the brain when they were shown moral cues paired with alcohol-related distractions. Specifically, these individuals showed less engagement in the medial prefrontal cortex, a region associated with moral decision-making, and the left amygdala, which plays a role in processing emotional responses. This reduced activity was especially noticeable in younger individuals with alcohol use disorder.

This interference effect was seen only when moral cues were paired with alcohol-related distractions. When the distractions were neutral, the individuals with alcohol use disorder showed similar brain activity to the control group without the disorder. This suggests that the presence of alcohol cues specifically interferes with the brain’s ability to process moral information.

no way, the brain literally struggles to make moral decisions when alcohol is in the picture. Makes us realize how deep addiction rewires everything.

There’s a reason that recovering alcoholics can’t even be in the same house with alcohol in it. My father-in-law is a full blown alcoholic, and he’ll never get better because my mother-in-law still casually drinks and throws parties at their house.

It’d be interesting to observe if this relates in some way to the moral tension associated with being an alchoholic but thinking that it is wrong, ie. if attitudes to alcohol and self-reported moral self-judgement is a relevant factor, meaning that moral cognition got into an internal tug-of-war with addiction and lost, and is now being inhibited.