and amygdala when they passively viewed negative facial expressions, and decreased activation in the precuneus and parahippocampal gyrus when they viewed positive facial expressions. Low activation in the anterior cingulate cortex during decoding of facial expressions of fear, disgust, and sadness also has been reported (Salloum et al., 2007). In a study examining functional brain activity during a task assessing cognitive and affective aspects of empathy, Gizewski et al. (2013) found that alcohol history was associated with low activation in the right anterior insula and deficits in affective empathy. Maurage et al. (2012b) studied psychosocial functioning in the context of a game that simulated interpersonal interactions, and found higher insula and lower frontal activation during social exclusion conditions. In another fMRI study, Maurage et al. (2012a) found that during a face-voice interaction task, alcoholic participants had less activation than controls in the superior temporal sulcus, inferior occipital gyrus, middle frontal gyrus, and superior parietal lobule, as well as poor functional connectivity in frontal regions.
