An Event-Related Potential Study of Decision-Making and Feedback Utilization in Female College Students Who Binge Drink

Abstract

This study investigated the ability to use feedback for decision-making in female college students who binge drink (BD) using the iowa gambling task (IGT) and event-related potentials (ERPs). Twenty-seven binge drinkers and 23 non-binge drinkers (non-BD) were identified based on scores on the Korean version of the Alcohol Use Disorder Test and the Alcohol Use Questionnaire. The IGT consists of four cards, including two cards that result in a net loss, with large immediate gains but greater losses in the long term, and two cards that result in a net gain, with small immediate gains but reduced losses in the long term. Participants were required to choose one card at a time to maximize profit until the end of the task while avoiding losses. The BD group showed a significantly lower total net score than the non-BD group, indicating that the BD group chose more disadvantageous cards. The BD group showed significantly smaller ΔFRN amplitudes [difference in amplitudes of feedback-related negativity (FRN) between gain and loss feedback] but not in P3 amplitudes. Additionally, ΔFRN amplitudes in the fronto-central area were positively correlated with the total net score and net scores for sectors 4 and 5. Thus, total net scores and later performance on the IGT increased as ΔFRN amplitudes from the fronto-central area increased. FRN is known to reflect early feedback evaluation employing a bottom-up mechanism, whereas P3 is known to reflect late feedback processing and allocation of attentional resources using a top-down mechanism. These results indicate that college students who binge drink have deficits in early evaluation of positive or negative feedback and that this deficit may be related to decision-making deficits.

A meta‐analysis of electrophysiological biomarkers of reward and error monitoring in substance misuse

“…Nineteen studies (Baker et al., 2011; Baker, Wood, et al. 2016; Bodkyn & Holroyd, 2019; Crane et al., 2021, 2023; Hammond et al., 2021; Hixson et al., 2019; Lannoy et al., 2017; Na et al., 2019; Parvaz et al., 2015; Potts et al., 2014; Sehrig et al., 2019; Singh et al., 2023; Soder et al., 2020; Wei et al., 2018, 2020, 2021; Zhao et al., 2017; Zhong et al., 2020) measured the RewP ( k = 29 effect sizes) for a total sample of N = 1089 (537 substance use, 552 control). There was no significant difference in the RewP amplitude between substance misuse and comparison groups ( g = 0.07, 95% CI [−0.44, 0.58], p = .777).…”

“…Leave‐one‐out sensitivity analyses did not find that removing any of the 19 studies would significantly change pooled g (Table 4). However, two studies, when excluded from combinatorial meta‐analyses, were found to visibly shift the distribution of all possible effect sizes up (Na et al., 2019; Figure 4a) or down (Wei et al., 2018; Figure 4b). In both cases, excluding the outlier study removed high‐heterogeneity effect sizes, resulting in slightly lower overall heterogeneity and a flatter distribution of heterogeneity estimates.…”

“…a Outlier studies (Na et al, 2019;Wei et al, 2018) were determined via leave-one-out sensitivity and graphical display of study heterogeneity of meta-analyses disregarding dependent effect sizes. b Electrode was not tested as a moderator due to insufficient studies for other electrodes.…”

Adolescent brain maturation and the neuropathological effects of binge drinking: A critical review

“…Specifically, in their experiment, college students who were identified as stable high binge-drinkers made less advantageous choices on the gambling task than their low binge-drinking peers. In a recent study that used event-related potential (ERPs) and IGT to assess the impact of binge drinking on decision-making in female college students, Na et al (2019) found a strong correlation between binge drinking and decision-making deficits. As shown previously, alterations to brain regions that mediate the decision-making process following binge alcohol consumption offer potential explanations to the deficits in decision-making observed in these two studies.…”

Binge Drinking and Problem Gambling Association in Adolescents and Young Adults

“…Again, Moreno et al (2012) found decision-making deficits in the absence of inhibitory control impairments. Also, Na et al (2019) assessed, by means of Event-Related Potentials, the ability to use feedback for decision-making in female college students binge drinkers and found a deficit in the early evaluation of positive vs. negative feedback, concluding that this deficit may impact on dysfunctional behavioral decision-making.…”