Adolescent Binge Drinking Linked to Abnormal Spatial Working Memory Brain Activation: Differential Gender Effects

Abstract

Background Binge drinking is prevalent during adolescence, and its effect on neurocognitive development is of concern. In adult and adolescent populations, heavy substance use has been associated with decrements in cognitive functioning, particularly on tasks of spatial working memory (SWM). Characterizing the gender-specific influences of heavy episodic drinking on SWM may help elucidate the early functional consequences of drinking on adolescent brain functioning. Methods 40 binge drinkers (13 females, 27 males) and 55 controls (24 females, 31 males) ages 16 to 19, completed neuropsychological testing, substance use interviews, and a spatial working memory task (SWM) during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Results Significant binge drinking status x gender interactions were found (p<.05) in 8 brain regions spanning bilateral frontal, anterior cingulate, temporal, and cerebellar cortices. In all regions, female binge drinkers showed less SWM activation than female controls, while male bingers exhibited greater SWM response than male controls. For female binge drinkers, less activation was associated with poorer sustained attention and working memory performances (ps<.025). For male binge drinkers, greater activation was linked to better spatial performance (p<.025). Conclusion Binge drinking during adolescence is associated with gender-specific differences in frontal, temporal, and cerebellar brain activation during a SWM task, which in turn relate to cognitive performance. Activation correlates with neuropsychological performance, strengthening the argument that BOLD activation is both affected by alcohol use and is an important indicator of behavioral functioning. Females may be more vulnerable to the neurotoxic effects of heavy alcohol use during adolescence, while males may be more resilient to the deleterious effects of binge drinking. Future longitudinal research will examine the significance of SWM brain activation as an early neurocognitive marker of alcohol impact to the brain on future behaviors such as driving safety, academic performance, and neuropsychological performance.

Effects of Emerging Alcohol and Marijuana Use Behaviors on Adolescents’ Neuropsychological Functioning Over Four Years

“…At baseline, participants were healthy 12-to 14-year-olds (42% female) with very little to no experience with alcohol and other drug use, recruited through flyers sent to households of students attending public middle schools in the San Diego area (Squeglia et al, 2009(Squeglia et al, , 2011. Data analysis for the current study and the work of Squeglia and colleagues (2009) shared eight participants from the same follow-up years.…”

Efectos fisiológicos y psicológicos de una alta dosis de alcohol en hombres y mujeres jóvenes

“…Alcohol impairs the functioning of a variety of domains throughout the life cycle (Espert & Gadea, 2012), including brain development (Guerri & Pascual, 2010), attentional processing (Marinkovic, Rickenbacher, Azma, & Artsy, 2012), memory (Squeglia, Schweinsburg, Pulido, & Tapert, 2011), academic performance (Inglés, Torregrosa, Rodrí-guez-Marín, García del Castillo, Gázquez, García-Fernández & Delgado, 2013), and motor performance (Marczinski, Fillmore, Henges, Ramsey, & Young, 2012;Modig, Fransson, Magnusson, & Patel, 2012), and it alters physiological parameters, as well as anxiety (Vinader-Caerols, Monleón, Carrasco, & Parra, 2012).…”

Anomalías neurocognitivas asociadas al consumo intensivo de alcohol (binge drinking) en jóvenes y adolescentes: Una revisión

“…En la misma línea, los resultados de otros dos estudios que evaluaron la memoria de trabajo visual en jóvenes y adolescentes sugieren que el BD conduce a cambios compensatorios en el funcionamiento cerebral -incremento de la actividad neural en regiones del córtex prefrontal, el cortex temporal, el hipocampo y el área motora suplementaria-, que permiten un rendimiento conductual equivalente al de los sujetos control Squeglia, Schweinsburg, Pulido y Tapert, 2011).…”