Emotion recognition in individuals with cocaine use disorder: the role of abstinence length and the social brain network.

RATIONALE: Emotion recognition is impaired in drug addiction. However, research examining the effects of cocaine use on emotion recognition yield mixed evidence with contradictory results potentially reflecting varying abstinence durations.

OBJECTIVES

Therefore, we investigated emotion recognition and its neural correlates in individuals with cocaine use disorder (CUD) parsed according to abstinence duration.

METHODS

Emotion recognition performance was compared between current cocaine users (CUD + , n = 28; cocaine-positive urine), short-term abstainers (CUD-ST, n = 23; abstinence < 6 months), long-term abstainers (CUD-LT, n = 20; abstinence ≥ 6 months), and controls (n = 45). A sample subset (n = 73) underwent structural magnetic resonance imaging to quantify regional gray matter volume (GMV) using voxel-based morphometry.

RESULTS

CUD + demonstrated greater difficulty recognizing happiness than CUD-ST and controls, and sadness and fear compared to controls (p < 0.01). For fear, CUD-ST also performed worse than controls (p < 0.01), while no differences emerged between CUD-LT and controls. Whole-brain analysis revealed lower GMV in the bilateral cerebellum in CUD + compared to CUD-LT and controls; a similar pattern was observed in the amygdala (CUD +  < CUD-LT) (pFWE < 0.01). Collapsed across all participants, poorer recognition for happiness was associated with lower right cerebellar GMV (pFWE < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

Emotion recognition is impaired with current cocaine use, and selective deficits (in fear) may persist with up to 6 months of abstinence. Lower cerebellar GMV may underlie deficits in positive emotion recognition. Interventions targeting emotional-social-cognitive deficits, especially among active users, may enhance treatment success for individuals with CUD.