Duka 2003) or intonations of emotional utterances (Monot et al 1994; Wildgruber et al 2002; Gandour et al 2003). It also has been suggested that alcoholism may involve an underlying neurocognitive deficit in the capacity to comprehend emotional information (Loas et al 2000; George et al 2001; Ravaglia et al 2002; Townshend and Duka 2003). Furthermore, an individual’s genetic history can impact both a tendency toward alcoholism and the development of anomalies in areas of the brain involved in emotional processing (Dick and Foroud 2003; Yamasaki et al 2003; Bowirrat and Oscar-Berman 2005). Taken together, these various views reflect considerable uncertainty about the nature of emotional changes in alcoholism. Whatever the mechanism(s), however, it is clear that alcoholism can damage the brain, and emotional abnormalities in alcoholics can interfere with healthy interpersonal and work-related relationships. In the present paper, we review research that has examined the effects of long-term alcoholism on brain systems involved in emotional functions. We conclude that abnormal emotional traits in alcoholics, some of which may be inherited, are associated with corresponding abnormalities in frontal, limbic, and cerebellar brain systems.
