Underlying dimensions of real-time word recognition in cochlear implant users.

Word recognition is a gateway to language, linking sound to meaning. Prior work has characterized its cognitive mechanisms as a form of competition between similar-sounding words. However, it has not identified dimensions along which this competition varies across people. We sought to identify these dimensions in a population of cochlear implant users with heterogenous backgrounds and audiological profiles, and in a lifespan sample of people without hearing loss. Our study characterizes the process of lexical competition using the Visual World Paradigm. A principal component analysis reveals that people's ability to resolve lexical competition varies along three dimensions that mirror prior small-scale studies. These dimensions capture the degree to which lexical access is delayed ("Wait-and-See"), the degree to which competition fully resolves ("Sustained-Activation"), and the overall rate of activation. Each dimension is predicted by a different auditory skills and demographic factors (onset of deafness, age, cochlear implant experience). Moreover, each dimension predicts outcomes (speech perception in quiet and noise, subjective listening success) over and above auditory fidelity. Higher degrees of Wait-and-See and Sustained-Activation predict poorer outcomes. These results suggest the mechanisms of word recognition vary along a few underlying dimensions which help explain variable performance among listeners encountering auditory challenge.

Failure to Undergo Resection Following Neoadjuvant Therapy for Resectable Pancreatic Cancer: A Secondary Analysis of SWOG S1505.

BACKGROUND: Neoadjuvant therapy (NT) is increasingly used for patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), and yet reasons for not undergoing subsequent pancreatectomy are poorly understood. Given the importance of completing multimodality therapy, we investigated factors associated with failure to undergo surgical resection following NT for PDAC. METHODS: SWOG S1505 was a multicenter phase II randomized trial of preoperative mFOLFIRINOX or gemcitabine/nab-paclitaxel prior to planned pancreatectomy for patients with potentially resectable PDAC. Associations between clinical, demographic, and hospital-level characteristics and receipt of surgical resection were estimated via multiple logistic regression. Differences in overall survival from 18 weeks postrandomization (scheduled time of surgery) according to resection status were assessed via Cox regression models. RESULTS: Among 102 eligible patients, 73 (71.6%) underwent successful pancreatectomy, whereas 29 (28.4%) did not, primarily because of progression (n=11; 10.8%) or toxicity during NT (n=9; 8.8%). Weight loss during NT (odds ratio [OR], 0.34; 95% CI, 0.11-0.93) and the hospital's city size (small: OR, 0.24 [95% CI, 0.07-0.80] and large: OR, 0.28 [95% CI, 0.10-0.79] compared with midsize) were significantly associated with a lower probability of surgical resection in adjusted models, whereas age, sex, race, body mass index, performance status, insurance type, geographic region, treatment arm, tumor location, chemotherapy delays/modifications, and hospital characteristics were not. Surgical resection following NT was associated with improved overall survival (median, 23.8 vs 10.8 months; P<.01) even after adjusting for grade 3-5 adverse events during NT, performance status, and body mass index (hazard ratio, 0.55; 95% CI, 0.32-0.95). CONCLUSIONS: Failure to undergo resection following NT was relatively common among patients with potentially resectable PDAC and associated with worse survival. Although few predictive factors were identified in this secondary analysis of the SWOG S1505 randomized trial, further research must focus on risk factors for severe toxicities during NT that preclude surgical resection so that patient-centered interventions can be delivered or alternate treatment sequencing can be recommended.

SWOG S1820: A pilot randomized trial of the Altering Intake, Managing Bowel Symptoms Intervention in Survivors of Rectal Cancer.

BACKGROUND: Survivors of rectal cancer experience persistent bowel dysfunction after treatments. Dietary interventions may be an effective approach for symptom management and posttreatment diet quality. SWOG S1820 was a pilot randomized trial of the Altering Intake, Managing Symptoms in Rectal Cancer (AIMS-RC) intervention for bowel dysfunction in survivors of rectal cancer. METHODS: Ninety-three posttreatment survivors were randomized to the AIMS-RC group (N = 47) or the Healthy Living Education attention control group (N = 46) after informed consent and completion of a prerandomization run-in. Outcome measures were completed at baseline and at 18 and 26 weeks postrandomization. The primary end point was total bowel function score, and exploratory end points included low anterior resection syndrome (LARS) score, quality of life, dietary quality, motivation, self-efficacy, and positive/negative affect. RESULTS: Most participants were White and college educated, with a mean age of 55.2 years and median time since surgery of 13.1 months. There were no statistically significant differences in total bowel function score by group, with the AIMS-RC group demonstrating statistically significant improvements in the exploratory end points of LARS (p = .01) and the frequency subscale of the bowel function index (p = .03). The AIMS-RC group reported significantly higher acceptability of the study. CONCLUSIONS: SWOG S1820 did not provide evidence of benefit from the AIMS-RC intervention relative to the attention control. Select secondary end points did demonstrate improvements. The study was highly feasible and acceptable for participants in the National Cancer Institute Community Oncology Research Program. Findings provide strong support for further refinement and effectiveness testing of the AIMS-RC intervention.

Intratumoral Cell Neighborhoods Coordinate Outcomes in Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma.

BACKGROUND & AIMS: Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDA) is a highly lethal disease characterized by a spatially heterogeneous tumor microenvironment. Within the PDA microenvironment, cells organize into communities where cell fate is influenced by neighboring cells of diverse ontogeny and function. However, it remains unclear how cell neighborhoods in the tumor microenvironment evolve with treatment and impact clinical outcomes. METHODS: Here, using automated chromogenic multiplex immunohistochemistry and unsupervised computational image analysis of human PDA tumors, we investigated cell neighborhoods in surgically resected tumors from patients with chemotherapy-naïve PDA (n = 59) and neoadjuvant chemotherapy-treated PDA (n = 57). Single cells were defined by lineage markers (CD3, CD8, Foxp3, CD68, CK19), proliferation (Ki67), and neighboring cells. RESULTS: Distinct intratumoral immune and tumor cell subsets were defined by neighboring cells. Higher content of stromal-associated macrophages was seen in chemotherapy-naïve tumors from long-term survivors (overall survival >3 years) compared with short-term survivors (overall survival <1 year), whereas immune-excluded tumor cells were higher in short-term survivors. Chemotherapy-treated vs -naïve tumors showed lower content of tumor-associated T cells and macrophages but similar densities of stromal-associated immune cells. However, proliferating tumor cell subsets with immune-rich neighborhoods were higher in chemotherapy-treated tumors. In a blinded analysis of tumors from patients treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy, a composite index comprising lower quantities of immune-excluded tumor cells and higher spatially distinct immune cell subsets was associated with prolonged survival. CONCLUSIONS: Together, these data provide new insights into discrete cell communities in PDA and show their clinical relevance.

Spectral Grouping of Electrically Encoded Sound Predicts Speech-in-Noise Performance in Cochlear Implantees.

OBJECTIVES: Cochlear implant (CI) users exhibit large variability in understanding speech in noise. Past work in CI users found that spectral and temporal resolution correlates with speech-in-noise ability, but a large portion of variance remains unexplained. Recent work on normal-hearing listeners showed that the ability to group temporally and spectrally coherent tones in a complex auditory scene predicts speech-in-noise ability independently of the audiogram, highlighting a central mechanism for auditory scene analysis that contributes to speech-in-noise. The current study examined whether the auditory grouping ability also contributes to speech-in-noise understanding in CI users. DESIGN: Forty-seven post-lingually deafened CI users were tested with psychophysical measures of spectral and temporal resolution, a stochastic figure-ground task that depends on the detection of a figure by grouping multiple fixed frequency elements against a random background, and a sentence-in-noise measure. Multiple linear regression was used to predict sentence-in-noise performance from the other tasks. RESULTS: No co-linearity was found between any predictor variables. All three predictors (spectral and temporal resolution plus the figure-ground task) exhibited significant contribution in the multiple linear regression model, indicating that the auditory grouping ability in a complex auditory scene explains a further proportion of variance in CI users' speech-in-noise performance that was not explained by spectral and temporal resolution. CONCLUSION: Measures of cross-frequency grouping reflect an auditory cognitive mechanism that determines speech-in-noise understanding independently of cochlear function. Such measures are easily implemented clinically as predictors of CI success and suggest potential strategies for rehabilitation based on training with non-speech stimuli.

Efficiency of spoken word recognition slows across the adult lifespan.

Spoken word recognition is a critical hub during language processing, linking hearing and perception to meaning and syntax. Words must be recognized quickly and efficiently as speech unfolds to be successfully integrated into conversation. This makes word recognition a computationally challenging process even for young, normal hearing adults. Older adults often experience declines in hearing and cognition, which could be linked by age-related declines in the cognitive processes specific to word recognition. However, it is unclear whether changes in word recognition across the lifespan can be accounted for by hearing or domain-general cognition. Participants (N = 107) responded to spoken words in a Visual World Paradigm task while their eyes were tracked to assess the real-time dynamics of word recognition. We examined several indices of word recognition from early adolescence through older adulthood (ages 11-78). The timing and proportion of eye fixations to target and competitor images reveals that spoken word recognition became more efficient through age 25 and began to slow in middle age, accompanied by declines in the ability to resolve competition (e.g., suppressing sandwich to recognize sandal). There was a unique effect of age even after accounting for differences in inhibitory control, processing speed, and hearing thresholds. This suggests a limited age range where listeners are peak performers.

Tethered Oral Tissue Release Among Breastfed Infants: Maternal Sources of Information and Treatment.

BACKGROUND: Despite limited clinical consensus regarding surgery for tethered oral tissues ("tongue-tie") for resolving breastfeeding-related issues, the procedure has been increasing in the United States. Greater understanding of maternal experiences with obtaining surgical release may help to improve breastfeeding outcomes. RESEARCH AIM: To explore experiences of breastfeeding mothers with infants having undergone "tongue-tie" surgery. METHOD: This online, cross-sectional, observational survey occurred between August and September 2020. Eligibility included being ≥ 18 years of age and previously or currently breastfeeding an infant with ≥ 1 tissue surgically released. Of 463 screens, 318 mothers were eligible and 115 consented. The final sample was 90. RESULTS: The sample was predominantly white (n = 86; 95%), non-Hispanic (n = 84; 93%), married/cohabitating (n = 85; 94%), and currently providing their own milk (n = 81; 89%).Difficult latch was the primary reason for seeking help. Participants reported lingual (n = 84; 93%), labial (n = 79; 88%), and buccal (n = 16; 17%) tissue-release, with 80% (n = 73) reporting > 1 released. For each tissue released, > 80% (n = 72) of participants felt "very confident" in their ability to correctly identify it and 97% (n = 87) felt "very involved" and "strongly agreed" with surgical release. International Board Certified Lactation Consultants® were the most frequently identified source of information (n = 45; 50%) and referrals (n = 38; 42%), while pediatric dentists most frequently performed interventions (n = 60; 67%). CONCLUSIONS: Participants reported being confident, involved, and in agreement with surgical release and lactation support professionals were frequent information and referral sources.

Adjuvant Chemoradiation in Patients with Lymph Node-Positive Biliary Tract Cancers: Secondary Analysis of a Single-Arm Clinical Trial (SWOG 0809).

BACKGROUND: SWOG 0809 is the only prospective study of adjuvant chemotherapy followed by chemoradiation focusing on margin status in patients with extrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (EHCC) and gallbladder cancer (GBCA); however, the effects of adjuvant therapy by nodal status have never been reported in this population. METHODS: Patients with resected EHCC and GBCA, stage pT2-4, node-positive (N+) or margin-positive (R1) who completed four cycles of chemotherapy followed by radiotherapy were included. Cox regression was used to compare overall survival (OS), disease-free survival (DFS), local recurrence, and distant metastasis by nodal status. DFS rates were compared with historical data via a one-sample t-test. RESULTS: Sixty-nine patients [EHCC, n = 46 (66%); GBCA, n = 23 (33%)] were evaluated, with a median age of 61.7 years and an R0 rate of 66.7% and R1 rate of 33.3%. EHCC versus GBCA was more likely to be N+ (73.9% vs. 47.8%, p = 0.03). Nodal status did not significantly impact OS (hazard ratio [HR] 1.98, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.86-4.54, p = 0.11) or DFS (HR 1.63, 95% CI 0.77-3.44, p = 0.20). Two-year OS was 70.6% for node-negative (N0) disease and 60.9% for N+ disease, while 2-year DFS was 62.5% for N0 tumors and 49.8% for N+ tumors. N+ versus N0 tumors showed higher rates of distant failure (42.2% vs. 25.0%, p = 0.04). The 2-year DFS rate in N+ tumors was significantly higher than in historical controls (49.8% vs. 29.7%, p = 0.004). CONCLUSIONS: Adjuvant therapy is associated with favorable outcome independent of nodal status and may impact local control in N+ patients. These data could serve as a benchmark for future adjuvant trials, including molecular-targeted agents.

Examining gender and the longitudinal effect of weight conscious drinking dimensions on body mass index among a college freshman cohort.

Objective: This study aims to: (1) examine gender differences for weight conscious drinking among college students accounting for the broader phenomenon (e.g. including the Alcohol Effects dimension); and (2) longitudinally examine the effect of weight conscious drinking behaviors on body mass index (BMI). Participants: United States freshmen students from eight participating universities (N= 1,149). Methods: Structural equation modeling was used to model the effect of gender on weight conscious drinking dimensions at 7-month follow-up. Results: Findings suggest a significant effect of gender on Alcohol Effects (ß = -.15, SE = .05, p = .005) at 7-month follow-up among college freshmen. Weight conscious drinking dimensions predicted no significant change in BMI at 7-month follow-up among college freshmen. Conclusion: Findings contribute to weight conscious drinking theory and provide campus weight conscious drinking prevention initiatives with evidence to tailor their programming to address female tendencies to engage in compensatory strategies to enhance the psychoactive effects of alcohol.

Audiological and Demographic Factors that Impact the Precision of Speech Categorization in Cochlear Implant Users.

OBJECTIVES: The ability to adapt to subtle variations in acoustic input is a necessary skill for successful speech perception. Cochlear implant (CI) users tend to show speech perception benefits from the maintenance of their residual acoustic hearing. However, previous studies often compare CI users in different listening conditions within-subjects (i.e., in their typical Acoustic + Electric configuration compared with Acoustic-only or Electric-only configurations) and comparisons among different groups of CI users do not always reflect an Acoustic + Electric benefit. Existing work suggests that CI users with residual acoustic hearing perform similarly to Electric-only listeners on phonetic voicing contrasts and unexpectedly poorer with fricative contrasts which have little energy in the range of the Acoustic + Electric listeners' acoustic hearing. To further investigate how residual acoustic hearing impacts sensitivity to phonetic ambiguity, we examined whether device configuration, age, and device experience influenced phonetic categorization in a large individual differences study. DESIGN: CI users with various device configurations (Electric-only N = 41; Acoustic + Electric N = 95) categorized tokens from five /b-p/ and five /s-ʃ/ minimal pair continua (e.g., bet-pet; sock-shock). We investigated age, device experience, and when applicable, residual acoustic hearing (pure tone hearing thresholds) as predictors of categorization. We also examined the relationship between phonetic categorization and clinical outcomes (CNC, AzBio) in a subset of our sample. RESULTS: Acoustic + Electric CI users were better able to categorize along the voicing contrast (steeper categorization slope) compared with Electric-only users, but there was no group-level difference for fricatives. There were differences within the subgroups for fricatives: bilateral users showed better categorization than unilateral users and bimodal users had better categorization than hybrid users. Age was a significant factor for voicing, while device experience was significant for fricatives. Critically, within the Acoustic + Electric group, hybrid CI users had shallower slopes than bimodal CI users. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest residual acoustic hearing is beneficial for categorizing stop voicing, but not frication. Age impacts the categorization of voicing, while device experience matters for fricatives. For CI users with ipsilateral residual acoustic hearing, those with better hearing thresholds may be over-relying on their acoustic hearing rather than extracting as much information as possible from their CI, and thus have shallower fricative categorization.

Understanding language processing in variable populations on their own terms: Towards a functionalist psycholinguistics of individual differences, development, and disorders.

Classic psycholinguistics seeks universal language mechanisms for all people, emphasing the "modal" listener: hearing, neurotypical, monolingual, young adults. Applied psycholinguistics then characterizes differences in terms of their deviation from modal. This mirrors naturalist philosophies of health which presume a normal function, with illness as a deviation. In contrast, normative positions argue that illness is partially culturally derived. It occurs when a person cannot meet socio-culturally defined goals, separating differences in biology (disease) from socio-cultural function (illness). We synthesize this with mechanistic functionalist views in which language emerges from diverse lower level mechanisms with no one-to-one mapping to function (termed the functional mechanistic normative approach). This challenges primarily psychometric approaches-which are culturally defined-suggesting a process-based approach may yield more insight. We illustrate this with work on word recognition across multiple domains: cochlear implant users, children, language disorders, L2 learners, and aging. This work investigates each group's solutions to the problem of word recognition as interesting in its own right. Variation in process is value-neutral, and psychometric measures complement this, reflecting fit with cultural expectations (disease vs. illness). By examining variation in processing across people with a variety of skills and goals, we arrive at deeper insight into fundamental principles.

Recognizing Voices Through a Cochlear Implant: A Systematic Review of Voice Perception, Talker Discrimination, and Talker Identification.

OBJECTIVE: Some cochlear implant (CI) users report having difficulty accessing indexical information in the speech signal, presumably due to limitations in the transmission of fine spectrotemporal cues. The purpose of this review article was to systematically review and evaluate the existing research on talker processing in CI users. Specifically, we reviewed the performance of CI users in three types of talker- and voice-related tasks. We also examined the different factors (such as participant, hearing, and device characteristics) that might influence performance in these specific tasks. DESIGN: We completed a systematic search of the literature with select key words using citation aggregation software to search Google Scholar. We included primary reports that tested (a) talker discrimination, (b) voice perception, and (c) talker identification. Each report must have had at least one group of participants with CIs. Each included study was also evaluated for quality of evidence. RESULTS: The searches resulted in 1,561 references, which were first screened for inclusion and then evaluated in full. Forty-three studies examining talker discrimination, voice perception, and talker identification were included in the final review. Most studies were focused on postlingually deafened and implanted adult CI users, with fewer studies focused on prelingual implant users. In general, CI users performed above chance in these tasks. When there was a difference between groups, CI users performed less accurately than their normal-hearing (NH) peers. A subset of CI users reached the same level of performance as NH participants exposed to noise-vocoded stimuli. Some studies found that CI users and NH participants relied on different cues for talker perception. Within groups of CI users, there is moderate evidence for a bimodal benefit for talker processing, and there are mixed findings about the effects of hearing experience. CONCLUSIONS: The current review highlights the challenges faced by CI users in tracking and recognizing voices and how they adapt to it. Although large variability exists, there is evidence that CI users can process indexical information from speech, though with less accuracy than their NH peers. Recent work has described some of the factors that might ease the challenges of talker processing in CI users. We conclude by suggesting some future avenues of research to optimize real-world speech outcomes.

Life of a vegetarian college student: Health, lifestyle, and environmental perceptions.

Objective To examine health behavior and environmental perception differences among vegetarian and nonvegetarian students. Participants: First-year university students (n = 1078) from eight United States universities. Methods: Data were obtained from base 2015 and followup 2016 assessments. Vegetarians and nonvegetarians were compared for anthropometrics, lifestyle behaviors, and campus environmental perceptions (CEPS). Results: Vegetarians had smaller waist circumference, lower systolic blood pressure, higher fruit and vegetable consumption, lower percentage of energy obtained from fat, and higher perceived stress. Vegetarians expressed a lower rating of perceptions of health policies on campus. Conclusion: A clear difference in indicators of physical health does not appear, however, vegetarian students show positive dietary patterns which can promote positive health outcomes. Further, vegetarians had lower perceptions of health policies on campus. Results can be used by administrators to ensure policies are in place to support health of students as currently vegetarian students see limitations in the environmental health policies.

Dyadic Analysis of a Self-report Physical Activity Measure for Adult-Youth Dyads.

Adult physical activity levels influence youth physical activity levels, but the nature of this relationship is still unknown. Most research focusing on this topic has been conducted with accelerometers, which are ideal since self-report physical activity measures can be biased. However, self-report measures for physical activity are useful to include in studies to gather information at low-cost. The purpose of this study was to further develop a self-report adult-youth dyad measure of physical activity. This study was conducted using secondary data analysis of the physical activity measures used in an intervention on behavioral nutrition (iCook 4-H). Participants were a sample of 214 adults (M = 39.0, SD = 8.0 years) and youth (M = 9.4, SD = 0.7 years) pairs. Accelerometer data was collected for a subset of youth (n = 122). There was dependency between the adult-youth physical activity data, and a dyadic confirmatory factor analysis model showed good fit to the data and achieved metric invariance, a measure to determine if the same construct was being measured in both youth and adults. Invariance was confirmed across matched versus unmatched sex pairs and some evidence of invariance with youth accelerometer data. Based on study findings, when using self-report measures of physical activity, researchers should measure both members of the adult-youth dyad to get more accurate measurements. Further validation of these findings is needed using an objective physical activity measure, like accelerometers, with all participants and more diverse samples.

Cognitive and Physiological Measures of Listening Effort During Degraded Speech Perception: Relating Dual-Task and Pupillometry Paradigms.

Purpose Listening effort is quickly becoming an important metric for assessing speech perception in less-than-ideal situations. However, the relationship between the construct of listening effort and the measures used to assess it remains unclear. We compared two measures of listening effort: a cognitive dual task and a physiological pupillometry task. We sought to investigate the relationship between these measures of effort and whether engaging effort impacts speech accuracy. Method In Experiment 1, 30 participants completed a dual task and a pupillometry task that were carefully matched in stimuli and design. The dual task consisted of a spoken word recognition task and a visual match-to-sample task. In the pupillometry task, pupil size was monitored while participants completed a spoken word recognition task. Both tasks presented words at three levels of listening difficulty (unmodified, eight-channel vocoding, and four-channel vocoding) and provided response feedback on every trial. We refined the pupillometry task in Experiment 2 (n = 31); crucially, participants no longer received response feedback. Finally, we ran a new group of subjects on both tasks in Experiment 3 (n = 30). Results In Experiment 1, accuracy in the visual task decreased with increased signal degradation in the dual task, but pupil size was sensitive to accuracy and not vocoding condition. After removing feedback in Experiment 2, changes in pupil size were predicted by listening condition, suggesting the task was now sensitive to engaged effort. Both tasks were sensitive to listening difficulty in Experiment 3, but there was no relationship between the tasks and neither task predicted speech accuracy. Conclusions Consistent with previous work, we found little evidence for a relationship between different measures of listening effort. We also found no evidence that effort predicts speech accuracy, suggesting that engaging more effort does not lead to improved speech recognition. Cognitive and physiological measures of listening effort are likely sensitive to different aspects of the construct of listening effort. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.16455900.

Caregiver Feeding Practices as Predictors for Child Dietary Intake in Low-Income, Appalachian Communities.

The Appalachian region of the U.S. is disproportionately impacted by poverty, obesity, and nutrition-related chronic diseases. Evidence suggests that caregiver feeding practices may promote healthful eating behaviors among children; however, this has not been examined in low-income, rural, Appalachian populations. This study examines caregiver feeding practices as predictors for child diet in low-income Appalachian families, using a cross-sectional analysis of 178 caregivers of young children (ages 2-10 years old), that were recruited from low-income, rural communities in East Tennessee, from November 2017 to June 2018. Caregivers self-reported measures of demographics, feeding practices, and child dietary intake. Multiple linear regression analyses were run, and found that higher use of caregiver modeling positively predicted child vegetable consumption (Beta = 1.02; p = 0.04). Higher caregiver intake of fruits and vegetables positively predicted child fruit consumption (Beta = 0.29; p = 0.02) and vegetable consumption (Beta = 1.56; p < 0.001), respectively. Higher home availability of healthier foods positively predicted child fruit consumption (Beta = 0.06; p = 0.002) and vegetable consumption (Beta = 0.09; p = 0.05). Higher home availability of less healthy foods positively predicted child consumption of high-sugar/high-fat snack foods (Beta = 0.59; p = 0.003). The findings of this study indicate that caregiver modeling, healthy caregiver dietary intake, and healthful home food availability are associated with healthier child dietary intake among young children in low-income, rural, Appalachian areas. Promoting these practices among caregivers may be an important strategy to enhancing dietary intake of children in this hard-to-reach, underserved population.

The Role of Alcohol-Related Proactive Dietary Restriction to Feel the Psychoactive Effects of Alcohol Faster on Binge Drinking Frequency among Freshmen College Students.

BACKGROUND: There is a positive cross-sectional relationship between alcohol-related proactive dietary restriction to feel the effects of alcohol faster (APDR) and binge drinking, a health and safety issue impacting college students. Objective: To examine: 1) the longitudinal predictive ability of varying levels of APDR on binge drinking frequency; and 1a) the strength of the relationship between varying levels of APDR and binge drinking frequency during freshman year of college (n = 1,149). METHODS: Ordinal logistic regression was used to model the relationship between APDR and binge drinking frequency. RESULTS: Main findings suggest APDR of students who reported eating less than usual (low APDR) prior to drinking to feel the effects of alcohol faster was a significant predictor of binge drinking frequency (1.27 (95% CI, 0.06 to 0.42), Wald χ2 (1) = 8.46, p=.009) at baseline, but not at 7-month follow-up (1.02 (95% CI, -0.18 to 0.23), Wald χ2 (1) = .51, p=.83). APDR for students who reported skipping one or more meals (high APDR) to feel the effects of alcohol faster was not a significant predictor of binge drinking frequency at baseline nor at 7-month follow-up. CONCLUSION: Low APDR is a significant predictor of binge drinking frequency that is established early in the first semester of college with no significant change occurring in binge drinking frequency over the course of students' freshman year at 7-month follow-up. Campus health professionals are urged to emphasize the detrimental health effects of low APDR early in the first semester of college.