"It's a beer!": Brain functional hyperconnectivity during processing of alcohol-related images in young binge drinkers.

Alcohol attentional bias has been pointed as a major marker of alcohol misuse. Recent evidence has revealed that brain functional connectivity (FC) may be a valuable index of the brain networks' integrity in young binge drinkers (BDs). However, there is no study to date examining the FC networks linked to the processing of alcohol-related images in this population. The present study aimed to explore the FC signatures underlying alcohol attention bias in young BDs. Thus, electroencephalographic (EEG) activity was recorded in 54 college students (55.5% females; 27 non/low-drinkers and 27 BDs) while performing a visual alcohol cue-reactivity task. We evaluated whole-brain FC profiles during the processing of alcoholic and non-alcoholic cues, as well as their potential relationship with craving and severity of alcohol use. Results showed that, at the behavioural level, BDs rated alcohol-related images as more pleasant/attractive than non/low-drinkers. Furthermore, at the electrophysiological level, BDs exhibited increased beta-band FC-particularly in the fronto-parieto-occipital network-when processing alcoholic cues. Conversely, they displayed reduced theta-band FC relatively to non/low-drinkers for non-alcoholic images. These hyper-/hypo-connectivity patterns were associated with higher alcohol craving levels. Findings are congruent with previous neurofunctional studies reporting an attentional bias towards alcohol-related information in BDs. These results may have important clinical implications as this neural reactivity to alcoholic cues may contribute to the maintenance and/or escalation of the drinking pattern. Finally, the present study constitutes the first evidence showing that FC networks may be a sensitive indicator to alcohol attentional bias in BDs.

Cortical auditory evoked potentials in 1-month-old infants predict language outcomes at 12 months.

The neurophysiological assessment of infants in their first developmental year can provide important information about the functional changes of the brain and supports the study of behavioral and developmental characteristics. Infants' cortical auditory evoked potentials (CAEPs) reflect cortical maturation and appear to predict subsequent language abilities. This study aimed to identify CAEP components to two auditory stimulus intensities in 1-month-old infants and to understand how these are associated with social interactive and self-regulatory behaviors. In addition, it examined whether CAEPs predicted developmental outcomes when infants were assessed at 12 months of age. At 1 month, P2 and N2 components were present for both auditory stimulus intensities, with an increased P2 amplitude being observed for the higher-intensity stimuli. We also observed that an increased P2 amplitude in the lower intensity predicted receptive and expressive language competencies at 12 months. These results are consistent with previous findings indicating an association between auditory processing and developmental outcomes in infants. This study suggests that specific auditory neurophysiological markers are associated with developmental outcomes in the first developmental year.

The Think/No-Think Alcohol Task: A New Paradigm for Assessing Memory Suppression in Alcohol-Related Contexts.

BACKGROUND: Research with the Think/No-Think (TNT) task has shown that voluntary suppression of an unwanted memory may lead to its later forgetting. To date, however, no study has assessed the memory suppression abilities in alcohol-related contexts despite the potential implications that it might have for alcohol research. With this aim, we developed a new version of the TNT paradigm, the TNT Alcohol (TNTA) task, which consists of 36 neutral pictures paired with 36 alcohol/no-alcohol images that are instructed to be suppressed or recollected. METHODS: Electroencephalographic activity was recorded from 64 electrodes while 20 young healthy females performed the TNTA task. The event-related potentials (ERPs) typically involved in memory suppression/recollection were analyzed, namely the fronto-central N2, the late parietal positivity (LPP), and the frontal slow wave (FSW). RESULTS: Findings revealed reduced recall for previously learned images that were subsequently instructed to be suppressed (No-Think) relative to those instructed to be retrieved (Think) and those not cued to be suppressed or retrieved (Baseline). This reduction seemed to be more prominent for alcohol-related memories. In addition, ERP analysis showed that compared to attempts of recollection, attempts of memory suppression were associated with attenuated LPP amplitude-more pronounced for alcohol-related memories-(indicating reduced conscious recollection for No-Think images) as well as with increased FSW (suggesting strategic control aiming at decrease accessibility of unwanted memories). CONCLUSIONS: These results replicate and extend previously reported behavioral and ERP findings in the TNT paradigm and suggest that the TNTA task may be a useful instrument to measure the ability to suppress alcohol-related memories.

Neural Correlates of Face Familiarity in Institutionally Reared Children With Distinctive, Atypical Social Behavior.

Although the impact of early adverse experience on neural processing of face familiarity has been studied, research has not taken into account disordered child behavior. This work compared the neural processing of familiar versus strangers' faces in 47 institutionalized children with a mean age of 54 months to determine the effects of (a) the presence versus absence of atypical social behavior and (b) inhibited versus indiscriminant atypical behavior. Results revealed a pattern of cortical hypoactivation in institutionalized children manifesting atypical social behavior and that inhibited children displayed larger neural response to a caregiver's face than to the stranger's, while indiscriminant children did not discriminate between stimuli. These findings suggest that neural correlates of face familiarity are associated with social functioning in institutionalized children.

[Neurocognitive anomalies associated with the binge drinking pattern of alcohol consumption in adolescents and young people: a review]. / Anomalías neurocognitivas asociadas al consumo intensivo de alcohol (binge drinking) en jóvenes y adolescentes: una revisión.

Binge drinking (BD) is the most common problematic drinking pattern during adolescence and youth. At the same time, it is a period marked by profound structural and functional brain changes, which may be affected by heavy alcohol consumption. In recent years, a considerable number of studies that attempt to characterize the effects of BD on the brain has been published. However, to date there is not any critical review in Spanish language on neurostructural, neurophysiological and cognitive consequences that may result from the maintenance of a BD pattern of alcohol consumption during adolescence and youth. The purpose of this review is to critically summarize the main research results on the effects of BD on the brain. To this end, a literature search in databases Web of Knowledge, PubMed and PsycINFO for the period 2000-2013 was performed. In general, studies agree that BD is associated with 1) lower performance on tasks assessing cognitive processes such as attention, memory and executive functions, 2) structural changes (in white matter and gray matter) in different brain regions and 3) neurophysiological abnormalities (hyper/hypoactivation) linked to different cognitive processes. These results, although still need to be contrasted, warn about important consequences that could result from the persistence of BD on a young and still maturing brain.

Trying to forget alcohol: Brain mechanisms underlying memory suppression in young binge drinkers.

People are able to voluntarily suppress unwanted thoughts or memories, a phenomenon known as suppression-induced forgetting or memory suppression. Despite harmful alcohol use, such as binge drinking, has been linked to impaired inhibitory control (IC) and augmented alcohol-cue reactivity, no study to date has assessed memory inhibition abilities towards alcohol-related cues in binge drinkers (BDs). Thus, the present preregistered study aimed to evaluate the behavioral and neurofunctional mechanisms associated with memory inhibition, specifically those related to the suppression of alcohol-related memories, in young BDs. For this purpose, electroencephalographic activity was recorded in eighty-two college students aged between 18 and 24 years old from the University of Minho (50% females; 40 non/low-drinkers [N/LDS] and 42 BDs) while they performed the Think/No-Think Alcohol task. Brain functional connectivity (FC) was calculated using the phase locking value and, subsequently, a dynamic seed-based analysis was conducted to explore the FC patterns between IC and memory networks. Comparatively to N/LDs, BDs exhibited decreased alpha-band FC between the anterior cingulate cortex and the left fusiform gyrus during attempts to suppress non-alcohol memories, accompanied by unsuccessful forgetting of those memories. Conversely, BDs displayed augmented gamma-band FC between the IC network and memory regions -i.e., hippocampus, parahippocampus and fusiform gyrus- during suppression of alcohol-related memories. Inhibitory abnormalities in BDs may lead to hypoconnectivity between IC and memory networks and deficient suppression of non-alcohol-related memories. However, while suppressing highly salient and reward-predicting stimuli, such as alcohol-related memories, BDs display a hyperconnectivity pattern between IC and memory networks, likely due to their augmented attention towards intrusive alcoholic memories and the attempts to compensate for potential underlying IC deficits. These findings hold important implications for alcohol research and treatment, as they open up new avenues for reducing alcohol use by shifting the focus to empowering suppression/control over alcohol-related memories. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION: [http://www.ClinicalTrials.gov], identifier [NCT05237414].

Effects of a persistent binge drinking pattern of alcohol consumption in young people: a follow-up study using event-related potentials.

AIMS: The objective of this study was to examine brain activity related to visual attention processes in youths who had maintained a binge drinking (BD) pattern of alcohol consumption for >2 years. METHODS: The participants were 57 university students (26 binge drinkers: BDs) with no personal or family history of alcoholism or psychopathological disorders in first-degree relatives. Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded while participants performed a visual oddball task (twice within a 2-year interval). The latency and amplitude of the P3b component of the ERPs were analysed. RESULTS: The P3b amplitude was larger in young BDs than in aged-matched controls at both evaluation times, and the difference was more pronounced after 2 years of maintenance of a BD pattern of consumption. The larger P3b amplitude was associated with an earlier onset of regular drinking and with a greater quantity and intensity of consumption. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that young BDs exhibit anomalies in neural activity involved in attentional/working memory processes, which increase after 2 years of maintenance of BD. This anomalous neural activity may reflect underlying dysfunctions in neurophysiological mechanisms as well as the recruitment of additional attentional/working memory resources to enable the binge drinkers to perform the task adequately.

Correction: Capturing the attentional response to clinical auditory alarms: An ERP study on priority pulses.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0281680.].

Neurocognitive effects of binge drinking on verbal episodic memory. An ERP study in university students.

Background: Verbal memory may be affected by engagement in alcohol binge drinking during youth, according to the findings of neuropsychological studies. However, little is known about the dynamics of the neural activity underlying this cognitive process in young, heavy drinkers. Aims: To investigate brain event-related potentials associated with cued recall from episodic memory in binge drinkers and controls. Methods: Seventy first-year university students were classified as binge drinkers (32: 17 female) or controls (38: 18 female). The participants completed a verbal paired associates learning task during electroencephalogram (EEG) recording. ERPs elicited by old and new word pairs were extracted from the cued-recall phase of the task by using Principal Component Analysis. Subjects also performed a standardized neuropsychological verbal learning test. Results: Two of the three event-related potentials components indicating old/new memory effects provided evidence for anomalies associated with binge drinking. The old/new effects were absent in the binge drinkers in the two subsequent posterior components, identified with the late parietal component and the late posterior negativity The late frontal component revealed similar old/new effects in both groups. Binge drinkers showed similar behavioural performance to controls in the verbal paired associates task, but performed poorly in the more demanding short-term cued-recall trial of a neuropsychological standardized test. Conclusion: Event-related potentials elicited during a verbal cued-recall task revealed differences in brain functioning between young binge drinkers and controls that may underlie emergent deficits in episodic memory linked to alcohol abuse. The brain activity of binge drinkers suggests alterations in the hippocampal - posterior parietal cortex circuitry subserving recognition and recollection of the cue context and generation of the solution, in relation to verbal information shallowly memorised.

Capturing the attentional response to clinical auditory alarms: An ERP study on priority pulses.

Clinical auditory alarms are often found in hospital wards and operating rooms. In these environments, regular daily tasks can result in having a multitude of concurrent sounds (from staff and patients, building systems, carts, cleaning devices, and importantly, patient monitoring devices) which easily amount to a prevalent cacophony. The negative impact of this soundscape on staff and patients' health and well-being, as well as in their performance, demand for accordingly designed sound alarms. The recently updated IEC60601-1-8 standard, in guidance for medical equipment auditory alarms, proposed a set of pointers to distinctly convey medium or high levels of priority (urgency). However, conveying priority without compromising other features, such as ease of learnability and detectability, is an ongoing challenge. Electroencephalography, a non-invasive technique for measuring the brain response to a given stimulus, suggests that certain Event-Related Potentials (ERPs) components such as the Mismatch Negativity (MMN) and P3a may be the key to uncovering how sounds are processed at the pre-attentional level and how they may capture our attention. In this study, the brain dynamics in response to the priority pulses of the updated IEC60601-1-8 standard was studied via ERPs (MMN and P3a), for a soundscape characterised by the repetition of a sound (generic SpO2 "beep"), usually present in operating and recovery rooms. Additional behavioural experiments assessed the behavioural response to these priority pulses. Results showed that the Medium Priority pulse elicits a larger MMN and P3a peak amplitude when compared to the High Priority pulse. This suggests that, at least for the applied soundscape, the Medium Priority pulse is more easily detected and attended at the neural level. Behavioural data supports this indication, showing significantly shorter reaction times for the Medium Priority pulse. The results pose the possibility that priority pointers of the updated IEC60601-1-8 standard may not be successfully conveying their intended priority levels, which may not only be due to design properties but also to the soundscape in which these clinical alarms are deployed. This study highlights the need for intervention in both hospital soundscapes and auditory alarm design settings.

Corrigendum: Neurocognitive effects of binge drinking on verbal episodic memory. An ERP study in university students.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fphar.2023.1034248.].

Forgetting Alcohol: A Double-Blind, Randomized Controlled Trial Investigating Memory Inhibition Training in Young Binge Drinkers.

Background: Binge Drinking (BD) has been associated with altered inhibitory control and augmented alcohol-cue reactivity. Memory inhibition (MI), the ability to voluntarily suppress unwanted thoughts/memories, may lead to forgetting of memories in several psychiatric conditions. However, despite its potential clinical implications, no study to date has explored the MI abilities in populations with substance misuse, such as binge drinkers (BDs). Method: This study-registered in the NIH Clinical Trials Database (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT05237414)-aims firstly to examine the behavioral and electroencephalographic (EEG) correlates of MI among college BDs. For this purpose, 45 BDs and 45 age-matched non/low-drinkers (50% female) will be assessed by EEG while performing the Think/No-Think Alcohol task, a paradigm that evaluates alcohol-related MI. Additionally, this work aims to evaluate an alcohol-specific MI intervention protocol using cognitive training (CT) and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) while its effects on behavioral and EEG outcomes are assessed. BDs will be randomly assigned to one MI training group: combined [CT and verum tDCS applied over the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC)], cognitive (CT and sham tDCS), or control (sham CT and sham tDCS). Training will occur in three consecutive days, in three sessions. MI will be re-assessed in BDs through a post-training EEG assessment. Alcohol use and craving will be measured at the first EEG assessment, and both 10-days and 3-months post-training. In addition, behavioral and EEG data will be collected during the performance of an alcohol cue reactivity (ACR) task, which evaluates attentional bias toward alcoholic stimuli, before, and after the MI training sessions. Discussion: This study protocol will provide the first behavioral and neurofunctional MI assessment in BDs. Along with poor MI abilities, BDs are expected to show alterations in event-related potentials and functional connectivity patterns associated with MI. Results should also demonstrate the effectiveness of the protocol, with BDs exhibiting an improved capacity to suppress alcohol-related memories after both combined and cognitive training, along with a reduction in alcohol use and craving in the short/medium-term. Collectively, these findings might have major implications for the understanding and treatment of alcohol misuse. Clinical Trial Registration: [www.ClinicalTrials.gov], identifier [NCT05237414].

Binge drinking and declarative memory in university students.

BACKGROUND: Binge drinking (BD), which is characterized by sporadic consumption of large quantities of alcohol in short periods, is prevalent among university students. Animal studies have shown that BD is associated with damage to the hippocampus, a region of the brain that plays a key role in learning and memory. The temporal cortex undergoes structural and functional changes during adolescence. The aim of the present study was to examine the association between BD and declarative memory in male and female university students. METHODS: The participants were 122 students (between 18 and 20 years of age): 62 BD (30 women) and 60 non-BD (29 women). The neuropsychological assessment included the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT) and Weschler Memory Scale-3rd ed. (WMS-III) Logical Memory subtest, to evaluate verbal declarative memory, and the WMS-III Family Pictures subtest, to measure visual declarative memory. RESULTS: The BD students remembered fewer words in the interference list and displayed greater proactive interference in the RAVLT; they performed worse in the Logical Memory subtest, both on immediate and delayed recall. There were no differences between the groups in performance of the Family Pictures subtest. No significant interactions were observed between BD and sex. CONCLUSIONS: Binge drinking is associated with poorer verbal declarative memory, regardless of sex. The findings are consistent with the vulnerability of the adolescent hippocampus to the neurotoxic effects of alcohol. Longitudinal studies will help determine the nature of this relationship, the neurodevelopmental trajectories for each sex, and the repercussions on academic performance.

[Definition of adolescent binge drinking]. / Definición del concepto de consumo intensivo de alcohol adolescente (binge drinking).

BACKGROUND: Review of the concept of adolescent binge drinking in order to propose an operational definition. METHODS: We conducted a literature review in the databases MEDLINE and PSYCLIT for the period 1980 to 2009. Through the filter "(binge drinking OR heavy-episodic-drinking) AND (adolescence OR university-students OR college-students)" 80 articles were selected for review. RESULTS: Epidemiological studies that have reported the prevalence of binge drinking show a lack of consensus regarding the operational definition. Alternative approaches have been proposed in relation to the number of standard drink units (SDUs) consumed per occasion, frequency of episodes and their duration. CONCLUSIONS: A proper definition of the pattern of intensive alcohol consumption should integrate the quantity and frequency variables, and also take into account the negative consequences associated with it. The criterion most widely accepted by the international scientific community is the consumption of 5 or more SDUs - 4 or more for women - on a single occasion at least once in the last two weeks. However, aspects such as differences in the grams of alcohol of SDUs hinder the establishment of an international definition of the term, making it necessary to adapt this approach to the country in which the study is being carried out.

Portuguese validation of the Alcohol Craving Questionnaire-Short Form-Revised.

Alcohol craving has been described as a strong subjective desire to drink, being considered highly valuable in the clinical practice, as it is recognized as a strong predictor of alcohol relapse in alcohol-dependent individuals. However, to date, there is not a multifactorial questionnaire available for assessing short-term acute craving experience in Portugal. The aim of the present study was to validate a swift and efficient tool for the assessment of acute alcohol craving in a sample of Portuguese citizens. For that purpose, the Alcohol Craving Questionnaire-Short Form-Revised (ACQ-SF-R) was translated into European Portuguese and administered to a sample of 591 college participants with ages between 18 and 30 years. Results suggested that a three-factor model (i.e., Emotionality, Purposefulness, and Compulsivity) proved to be most suitable for the Portuguese sample. Overall, the ACQ-SF-R exhibited good psychometric properties, having a good internal consistency both for the general craving index (Cronbach's α = 0.85) and each subscale (Cronbach's α = 0.66-0.83), as well as an appropriate convergent validity with the Penn Alcohol Craving Scale (r = 0.65, p<0.001), suggesting a good construct validity. In addition, the ACQ-SF-R also showed a good concurrent validity with the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (r = 0.57, p<0.001), indicating that risky alcohol use patterns are associated with increased craving scores in the ACQ-SF-R. Collectively, these findings suggest that the Portuguese version of the ACQ-SF-R can accurately measure alcohol craving at a multifactorial level, being a valid and reliable tool to use in Portuguese samples in research settings.

Effects of the COVID-19 Mitigation Measures on Alcohol Consumption and Binge Drinking in College Students: A Longitudinal Survey.

To "flatten the curve" of COVID-19 contagion, several countries ordered lockdowns amid the pandemic along with indications on social distancing. These social isolation measures could potentially bring alterations to healthy behavior, including to alcohol consumption. However, there is hardly any scientific evidence of the impact of such measures on alcohol consumption and binge drinking (BD) among young adults, and how they relate to alcohol craving, stress, anxiety, and depression levels. We addressed these questions by conducting a longitudinal study with 146 Portuguese college students-regular binge drinkers (regular BDs), infrequent binge drinkers (infrequent BDs) and non-binge drinkers (non-BDs)-in three moments: before the pandemic (Pre-Lockdown), during lockdown (Lockdown) and 6 months after (Post-Lockdown). Results revealed that regular BDs decreased alcohol use during Lockdown, a change in behavior that was even greater during Post-Lockdown, when regular BDs displayed similar levels of consumption to infrequent/non-BDs. Additionally, alcohol craving and living with friends were predictive of alcohol use during Lockdown, whereas stress, anxiety, and depression symptoms did not contribute to explain changes in drinking behavior. Collectively, the results suggest that BD in young Portuguese college students can be stopped when the contexts in which alcohol intake usually takes place are suppressed, which may have important implications for future prevention and intervention strategies.

Electroencephalographic signatures of the binge drinking pattern during adolescence and young adulthood: A PRISMA-driven systematic review.

Research on neurophysiological impairments associated with binge drinking (BD), an excessive but episodic alcohol use pattern, has significantly increased over the last decade. This work is the first to systematically review -following PRISMA guidelines- the empirical evidence regarding the effects of BD on neural activity -assessed by electroencephalography- of adolescents and young adults. A systematic review was conducted in 34 studies (N = 1723). Results indicated that binge drinkers (BDs) showed similar behavioral performance as non/low drinkers. The most solid electrophysiological finding was an augmented P3 amplitude during attention, working memory and inhibition tasks. This increased neural activity suggests the recruitment of additional resources to perform the task at adequate/successful levels, which supports the neurocompensation hypothesis. Similar to alcoholics, BDs also displayed increased reactivity to alcohol-related cues, augmented resting-state electrophysiological signal and reduced activity during error detection -which gives support to the continuum hypothesis. Evidence does not seem to support greater vulnerability to BD in females. Replication and longitudinal studies are required to account for mixed results and to elucidate the extent/direction of the neural impairments associated with BD.

Binge drinking affects attentional and visual working memory processing in young university students.

BACKGROUND: Binge Drinking (BD) typically involves heavy drinking over a short time, followed by a period of abstinence, and is common among young people, especially university students. Animal studies have demonstrated that this type of alcohol consumption causes brain damage, especially in the nonmature brain. The aim of the present study was to determine how BD affects brain functioning in male and female university students, during the performance of a visual working memory task. METHODS: Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded, with an extensive set of 32 scalp electrodes, in 95 first-year university students (age range 18 to 20 years), comprising 42 binge drinkers (BD) and 53 controls, in a visual "identical pairs" continuous performance task. Principal components analysis was used to identify and analyze the N2 (negative waveform with a latency around 200 to 300 ms related to attentional processes) and P3 (positive waveform with a latency around 300 to 600 ms related to working memory processes) components of the ERPs. RESULTS: In the matching condition of the task, the N2 component in central and parietal regions was significantly larger in the BD than in the control group. In the control group, the P3 component was larger in the matching than in the nonmatching condition in the frontal, central, and parietal regions, whereas the BD group did not show any significant differences between conditions in any region. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study confirm the presence of electrophysiological differences between young university student binge drinkers and controls during the execution of a visual task with a high working memory load. The larger N2 in the BD group suggests higher levels of attentional effort required by this group to perform the task adequately. The absence of any differences in the P3 component in the different conditions (matching and nonmatching stimuli) in the BD group suggests a deficiency in the electrophysiological differentiation between relevant and irrelevant information, which may reflect some impairment of working memory processes.

Increased Nucleus Accumbens Volume in College Binge Drinkers - Preliminary Evidence From Manually Segmented MRI Analysis.

INTRODUCTION: Binge drinking (BD) is characterized by high alcohol intake in a short time followed by periods of withdrawal. This pattern is very common during adolescence and early adulthood, a developmental stage marked by the maturation of the fronto-striatal networks. The basal ganglia, specifically the nucleus accumbens (NAcc) and the caudate nucleus (CN), are part of the fronto-striatal limbic circuit involved in reward processes underlying addictive behaviors. Abnormal NAcc and CN morphometry has been noted in alcoholics and other drug abusers, however the effects of BD on these subcortical regions have been poorly explored. Accordingly, the main goal of the present study was to address potential morphological alterations in the NAcc and CN in a sample of college binge drinkers (BDs). METHOD: Manual segmentation of the NAcc and the CN was performed in Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) of 20 college BDs and 16 age-matched alcohol abstainers (18-23 years-old). RESULTS: A two-way mixed ANOVA revealed no group differences in the volumetry of the CN, whereas increased NAcc volume was observed in the BD group when compared to their abstinent control peers. DISCUSSION: These findings are in line with previous automatically segmented MRI reports highlighting abnormalities in a key region involved in drug rewarding processes in BDs.

Functional and structural connectivity of the executive control network in college binge drinkers.

Binge Drinking (BD) is a pattern of excessive alcohol consumption highly prevalent among college students, and has been associated with structural and functional alterations of brain networks. Recent advances in the resting-state connectivity analysis have boosted the research of the network-level connectivity disturbances associated with many psychiatric and neurological disorders, including addiction. Accordingly, atypical functional connectivity patterns in resting-state networks such as the Executive Control Network (ECN) have been found in substance users and alcohol-dependent individuals. In this study, we assessed for the first time the ECN functional and structural connectivity in a group of 34 college students, 20 (10 women) binge drinkers (BDs) in comparison with a group of 14 (8 women) alcohol abstinent controls (AACs). Overall, our findings documented increased resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) in the BDs left middle frontal cortex of the left ECN in comparison to the AACs, while no structural connectivity differences were observed between groups. Pearson correlations revealed a positive association between the left middle frontal gyrus rsFC and the frequency of BD episodes per month, in the BD group. These findings suggest that maintaining a pattern of acute and intermittent alcohol consumption during important stages of brain development, as the transition from adolescence to adulthood, is associated with impaired ECN rsFC despite no group differences being yet noticed in the ECN structural connectivity.