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UCT Research Report '11
140
The recently published United Nations World
Drug Report named South Africa one of the
world’s drug capitals. Drug consumption
in the country is twice the world norm, with
15 percent of the population having a drug
problem, according to the Central Drug
Authority (CDA). Substance abuse costs
the country R20 billion a year, with one out
of every four rand being spent on alcohol,
dagga, and methamphetamine (tik).
Alcohol is the most abused substance in the country,
affecting roughly 17,5 million South Africans. According
to the CDA, these drinkers each consume the equivalent
of 20,1 litres of pure alcohol every year. Perhaps not
surprisingly then, South Africa also has the highest rate
of foetal alcohol syndrome in the world, estimated to be
between 122 and 148 instances for every 1 000 live births.
UCT researchers have documented high rates of exposure
to psychological trauma in South Africans, as well as
high rates of risky behaviour other than substance
abuse, including unprotected sex and criminal behaviour.
Furthermore, there are complex interactions between these
phenomena; particular genes and early adversity may
interact to create vulnerability for risky behaviour. Risky
sexual behaviour may ultimately lead to the development
of neuro-HIV, which in turn, may impact negatively on
cognitive function and decision-making.
This range of problems is profound and complex, and
has far-reaching social and economic implications.
Recognising that most of these issues revolve around
behaviour and that behaviour emerges in the brain, new
thinking at UCT may provide some solutions to these
The science of substance abuse
and other social ills
entrenched social issues. At the core of this thinking is
the belief that an integrated approach to understanding
behaviour, that both draws on basic neuroscience and
informs public health, is needed.
The Brain and Behaviour Initiative (BBI) is a cross-
faculty, multi-disciplinary, collaborative framework at UCT
that promotes research in the cognitive and affective
neurosciences. Under the directorship of Professor Dan
Stein, Head of the Department of Psychiatry and Mental
Health at UCT, the BBI is exploring new experimental
techniques, combined with new theoretical insights, to
make advances in diagnostic tools and treatments for
people with mind-brain function disorders.
One of UCT’s six signature themes, the BBI has three main
thrusts of research: psychological trauma, substance
abuse disorders, and neuro-HIV.
Making use of the latest in brain imaging technology,
the BBI relies on cutting-edge techniques, such as
cognotyping and genotyping, to demystify the inner
workings of the brain. Major strides are being made in the
field and opportunities are emerging in the battle against
some of the country’s most pressing social issues.
“These are complex problems that involve a range
of molecular, neuroanatomical, psychological, and
sociological mechanisms,” says Professor Stein. “In
addition, the methods that we use to explore them are
complex and so require a range of different expertise,
from physics through to psychology.
“Brain imaging has been a key method that has helped bring
a range of different disciplines together, in order to explore
research questions collaboratively,” says Professor Stein.
“Another focus has been on gene-environment interactions
that allow us to look at issues of nature versus nurture.”
Another discipline contributing to the study of the brain is
economics, through the 10-year-old discipline known as
neuroeconomics. Neuroeconomists model the circuit in the
brain that computes comparative values of possible reward
as a consumer, using economic theory. Its core method is
experimentation in which people make economic choices
while their brains are scanned using functional magnetic
resonance imaging (fMRI).
This is one of the main activities of UCT’s new Research
Unit in Behavioural Economics and Neuroeconomics
(RUBEN), located in the Faculty of Commerce and led
by Associate Professor Justine Burns and Professor Don
“These are complex problems
that involve a range of molecular,
neuroanatomical, psychological, and
sociological mechanisms. In addition,
the methods that we use to explore
them are complex and so require
a range of different expertise, from
physics through to psychology.”