Addiction
Does binge drinking change how the brain resists emotional distraction?
Open access · cc by · source: Europe PMC
College freshmen who binge drank more often showed weaker activation in frontal control regions when they had to hold back a response while upsetting images were in the background, even though their task performance looked normal.
Study at a glance
- Design
- Cross-sectional — Single-session fMRI study: an emotional Go-NoGo task manipulated background image valence within subjects, and brain activation was correlated with each person's number of binges in the past 3 months
- N
- N=23 · 23 healthy college freshmen spanning non-drinkers to heavy drinkers
- Population
- College freshmen aged 18-20 at a 4-year program in the United States, mostly female, screened for heavy drug use
- Outcome
- BOLD activation on NoGo trials with negative or positive vs neutral backgrounds; its correlation with past-3-month binge episodes; Go/NoGo accuracy and reaction time
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Key findings
Negative backgrounds slowed responses and, across the whole sample, increased activation in the amygdala, orbitofrontal cortex and left lateral prefrontal cortex compared with neutral backgrounds; positive backgrounds did not engage prefrontal regions or the ventral striatum as predicted. More binges in the past 3 months were linked to less activation in right dorsolateral and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex and anterior cingulate during negative-versus-neutral NoGo trials. No such link appeared for positive distractors, and drinking was not related to task accuracy, reaction time or self-reported impulsivity.
Methodology
Twenty-three first-year college students, ranging from non-drinkers to heavy drinkers, completed a Go-NoGo task in an fMRI scanner: they pressed a button for every letter except X, while letters appeared on top of negative, positive, neutral or scrambled photographs. Binge drinking over the previous 3 months was measured with a calendar-based interview. The researchers compared brain activity on NoGo trials with emotional versus neutral backgrounds and tested whether that activity varied with the number of binges.
Limitations
With 23 participants measured at a single time point, the study shows an association, not that binge drinking causes reduced frontal activation; the pattern could reflect pre-existing differences, alcohol effects or adaptation, and the authors note longitudinal follow-up is under way. Because Go trials were not modelled separately, the design cannot directly compare inhibition with ordinary responding within each background. Few males took part and they tended to be light drinkers, so sex differences could not be examined. The brain differences occurred without any behavioural impairment, so their practical significance is unclear.
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