RG Neuroimaging of Addictive Behaviour

The Research Group „Neuroimaging of Addictive Behaviour“ investigates the neurobiological underpinnings of addictive behaviour using multimodal imaging. It is part of the Department of Addictive Behaviour and Addiction Medicine (Medical Director: Prof. Dr. Falk Kiefer). The research focus is the pathogenesis of addiction disorders, the identification of mechanisms that trigger relapse, neural addiction biomarkers and  the influence of genetic variation in addiction initiation and maintenance („Imaging Genetics“).

Addictive Behaviour is associated with impairments in higher cognitive functions including inhibitory control and decision making but also incapacities that relate to stress response, affective and emotional processing,  sensitivity to addiction (or drug) related stimuli , and irregularities in motivational and reward seeking behaviours. The investigation of the above mentioned domains is achieved not only using a wide range of well-established experimental paradigms but also with the validation and implementation of newly developed addiction related tasks within the group.  Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is the imaging method mainly used with a focus on functional MRI, voxel-based morphometry (VBM), diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS). Two 3-Tesla tomographs are available at the institute. Additionally to imaging methods, neuropsychological and psychometric methods and questionnaires are developed and validated to examine addictive behaviour.

Besides substance-related disorders (mainly alcohol, tobacco, opioid addiction), the RG is focusing on behavioural addictions in cooperation with the RG Behavioural Addiction. The projects do not only cover fundamental research, but also serve to improve and evaluate therapeutic interventions. The RG investigates add-on interventions to standard treatments in clinical studies. These interventions include cognitive training interventions for remediation of cognitive processes including executive functioning, cognitive biases and social cognitive deficits, but also computer-based trainings for cue-exposure-based extinction, habit-modification, inhibition and decision  training.

Considering that heterogeneity is characterizing addictive behaviour, a further goal of the RG is to develop and apply multivariate statistical methods and machine learning to identify subgroups of addicted patients with individual treatment needs.