Alcohol-related stimuli modulate functional connectivity during response inhibition in young binge drinkers.

Binge drinking is a pattern of intermittent excessive alcohol consumption that is highly prevalent in young people. Neurocognitive dual-process models have described substance abuse and adolescence risk behaviours as the result of an imbalance between an overactivated affective-automatic system (related to motivational processing) and damaged and/or immature reflective system (related to cognitive control abilities). Previous studies have evaluated the reflective system of binge drinkers (BDs) through neutral response inhibition tasks and have reported anomalies in theta (4-8 Hz) and beta (12-30 Hz) bands. The present study aimed to investigate the influence of the motivational value of alcohol-related stimuli on brain functional networks devoted to response inhibition in young BDs. Sixty eight BDs and 78 control participants performed a beverage Go/NoGo task while undergoing electrophysiological recording. Whole cortical brain functional connectivity (FC) was evaluated during successful response inhibition trials (NoGo). BDs exhibited fast-beta and theta hyperconnectivity in regions related to cognitive control. These responses were modulated differently depending on the motivational content of the stimuli. The increased salience of alcohol-related stimuli may lead to overactivation of the affective-automatic system in BDs, and compensatory neural resources of the reflective system will thus be required during response inhibition. In BDs, inhibition of the response to alcohol stimuli may require higher theta FC to facilitate integration of information related to the task goal (withholding a response), while during inhibition of the response to no-alcoholic stimuli, higher fast-beta FC would allow to apply top-down inhibitory control of the information related to the prepotent response.

Reward associations magnify memory-based biases on perception.

Long-term spatial contextual memories are a rich source of predictions about the likely locations of relevant objects in the environment and should enable tuning of neural processing of unfolding events to optimize perception and action. Of particular importance is whether and how the reward outcome of past events can impact perception. We combined behavioral measures with recordings of brain activity with high temporal resolution to test whether the previous reward outcome associated with a memory could modulate the impact of memory-based biases on perception, and if so, the level(s) at which visual neural processing is biased by reward-associated memory-guided attention. Data showed that past rewards potentiate the effects of spatial memories upon the discrimination of target objects embedded within complex scenes starting from early perceptual stages. We show that a single reward outcome of learning impacts on how we perceive events in our complex environments.

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.

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.

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.].

Long-term memories bias sensitivity and target selection in complex scenes.

In everyday situations, we often rely on our memories to find what we are looking for in our cluttered environment. Recently, we developed a new experimental paradigm to investigate how long-term memory (LTM) can guide attention and showed how the pre-exposure to a complex scene in which a target location had been learned facilitated the detection of the transient appearance of the target at the remembered location [Summerfield, J. J., Rao, A., Garside, N., & Nobre, A. C. Biasing perception by spatial long-term memory. The Journal of Neuroscience, 31, 14952-14960, 2011; Summerfield, J. J., Lepsien, J., Gitelman, D. R., Mesulam, M. M., & Nobre, A. C. Orienting attention based on long-term memory experience. Neuron, 49, 905-916, 2006]. This study extends these findings by investigating whether and how LTM can enhance perceptual sensitivity to identify targets occurring within their complex scene context. Behavioral measures showed superior perceptual sensitivity (d') for targets located in remembered spatial contexts. We used the N2pc ERP to test whether LTM modulated the process of selecting the target from its scene context. Surprisingly, in contrast to effects of visual spatial cues or implicit contextual cueing, LTM for target locations significantly attenuated the N2pc potential. We propose that the mechanism by which these explicitly available LTMs facilitate perceptual identification of targets may differ from mechanisms triggered by other types of top-down sources of information.

Effects of binge drinking during adolescence and emerging adulthood on the brain: A systematic review of neuroimaging studies.

Binge drinking (BD) is a common pattern of alcohol consumption which is generating great concern because of its deleterious consequences. We selected 33 neuroimaging studies of healthy young binge drinkers (BDs) by following PRISMA guidelines. This review provides a comprehensive overview of the relationship between BD and neurocognitive anomalies reported across magnetic resonance studies. Moreover, this work is the first in which results of relatively new imaging techniques, such as resting-state functional connectivity (RS-FC) and neurite orientation dispersion and density imaging (NODDI), have been reviewed using a systematic procedure. We established strict inclusion criteria in order to isolate the various potential effects of BD on the adolescent brain. Two authors independently evaluated the methodological quality, assessing different aspects related to sample size, and statistical correction methods, which are of particular importance in neuroimaging studies. BD is associated with structural and functional anomalies in several cortical and subcortical brain regions intimately involved in the control and regulation of impulsive or risky behaviours, as well as in the processing of reinforcing stimuli.

Effects of Persistent Binge Drinking on Brain Structure in Emerging Adults: A Longitudinal Study.

Previous cross-sectional research has largely associated binge drinking (BD) with changes in volume and thickness during adolescence and early adulthood. Nevertheless, the long-term alcohol-related effects on gray matter features in youths who had maintained a BD pattern over time have not yet been sufficiently explored. The present study aimed to assess group differences both cross-sectionally and longitudinally [using symmetric percent change (SPC)] on several structural measures (i.e., thickness, surface area, volume). For this purpose, magnetic resonance imaging was recorded twice within a 2-year interval; at baseline (18-19 years) and a follow-up (20-21 years). The sample included 44 university students who were classified as 16 stable binge drinkers (8 females) and 28 stable controls (13 females). Whole-brain analysis showed larger insular surface area in binge drinkers relative to controls at follow-up (cluster-wise p = 0.045). On the other hand, region of interest (ROI) analyses on thickness also revealed a group by sex interaction at follow-up (p = 0.005), indicating that BD males had smaller right rostral middle frontal gyrus thickness than both control males (p = 0.011) and BD females (p = 0.029). Similarly, ROI-based analysis on longitudinal data showed a group by sex interaction in the right nucleus accumbens (p = 0.009) which revealed a decreased volume across time in BD males than in control males (p = 0.007). Overall, continued BD pattern during emerging adulthood appears to lead to gray matter abnormalities in regions intimately involved in reward processing, emotional regulation and executive functions. Notably, some anomalies varied significantly depending on sex, suggesting a sex-specific impact of BD on typical neurodevelopment processes.

Response Inhibition and Binge Drinking During Transition to University: An fMRI Study.

BACKGROUND: Binge Drinking (BD), a highly prevalent drinking pattern among youth, has been linked with anomalies in inhibitory control. However, it is still not well characterized whether the neural mechanisms involved in this process are compromised in binge drinkers (BDs). Furthermore, recent findings suggest that exerting inhibitory control to alcohol-related stimuli requires an increased effort in BDs, relative to controls, but the brain regions subserving these effects have also been scarcely investigated. Here we explored the impact of BD on the pattern of neural activity mediating response inhibition and its modulation by the motivational salience of stimuli (alcohol-related content). METHODS: Sixty-seven (36 females) first-year university students, classified as BDs (n = 32) or controls (n = 35), underwent fMRI as they performed an alcohol-cued Go/NoGo task in which pictures of alcoholic or non-alcoholic beverages were presented as Go or NoGo stimuli. RESULTS: During successful inhibition trials, BDs relative to controls showed greater activity in the bilateral inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), extending to the anterior insula, a brain region usually involved in response inhibition tasks, despite the lack of behavioral differences between groups. Moreover, BDs displayed increased activity in this region restricted to the right hemisphere when inhibiting a prepotent response to alcohol-related stimuli. CONCLUSIONS: The increased neural activity in the IFG/insula during response inhibition in BDs, in the absence of behavioral impairments, could reflect a compensatory mechanism. The findings suggest that response inhibition-related activity in the right IFG/insula is modulated by the motivational salience of stimuli and highlight the role of this brain region in suppressing responses to substance-associated cues.

Punishment-related memory-guided attention: Neural dynamics of perceptual modulation.

Remembering the outcomes of past experiences allows us to generate future expectations and shape selection in the long-term. A growing number of studies has shown that learned positive reward values impact spatial memory-based attentional biases on perception. However, whether memory-driven attentional biases extend to punishment-related values has received comparatively less attention. Here, we manipulated whether recent spatial contextual memories became associated with successful avoidance of punishment (potential monetary loss). Behavioral and electrophysiological measures were collected from 27 participants during a subsequent memory-based attention task, in which we tested for the effect of punishment avoidance associations. Punishment avoidance significantly amplified effects of spatial contextual memories on visual search processes within natural scenes. Compared to non-associated scenes, contextual memories paired with punishment avoidance lead to faster responses to targets presented at remembered locations. Event-related potentials elicited by target stimuli revealed that acquired motivational value of specific spatial locations, by virtue of their association with past avoidance of punishment, dynamically affected neural signatures of early visual processing (indexed by larger P1 and earlier N1 potentials) and target selection (as indicated by reduced N2pc potentials). The present results extend our understanding of how memory, attention, and punishment-related mechanisms interact to optimize perceptual decision in real world environments.

The dual-process model in young adults with a consistent binge drinking trajectory into adulthood.

BACKGROUND: Binge Drinking (BD) generally declines once students have left university. However, many individuals continue to partake in BD into adulthood, constituting a scarcely investigated high-risk group towards whom interventions should be prioritized. Following the dual-process model, we examined the relationship between BD and both the reflective system (executive functions) and the affective system (alcohol bias) in young adults with a consistent BD trajectory. We considered impulsivity as a moderator in the relationship between BD and alcohol bias. METHODS: A cohort of 63 (31♀) young adults were followed for eleven years (18-29 years old). In the last assessment, participants, with high and low drinking trajectories underwent neuropsychological assessment of executive functions (working memory [SOPT], cognitive flexibility [TMT -Verbal Fluency], inhibition [Stroop]) and alcohol bias (Addiction Stroop). The Barratt Impulsivity Scale measured impulsivity. Generalized linear mixed models and regression-based moderation models were applied. RESULTS: BD was associated with weak inhibitory control, poor working memory and greater alcohol bias moderated by non-planning impulsivity. At moderate levels of non-planning impulsivity, BD was associated with greater alcohol bias. This association was not found at high levels of impulsivity. These deficits were related to loss of control over drinking and severity of alcohol use. CONCLUSIONS: The imbalance between poor cognitive control and greater alcohol bias may contribute to the persistence of BD into adulthood. The findings highlight the complexities of the dual-process model, with intervention implications.

Time course of attentional modulations on automatic emotional processing.

In a previous study using event-related potentials (ERPs) [S. Doallo, S. Rodríguez Holguín, F. Cadaveira, Attentional load affects automatic emotional processing: evidence from event-related potentials, Neuroreport 17 (2006) 1797-1801], we reported that differential responses to unattended peripheral affective pictures, as reflected by N1-P2 modulations at posterior regions, are modulated by attentional load at fixation. Here, new analyses of these data were performed to evaluate whether a sustained, broadly distributed, negative shift in the unattended pictures ERP waveforms, which displayed larger amplitudes for emotional stimuli, reflects an additional differential response to the emotional content. Under low-load conditions, unpleasant (versus neutral) pictures elicited greater negativities in the 80-140 ms latency range over frontocentral sites and more centroparietally distributed from 200 to 280 ms. These findings provide further evidence of the time course of emotional processing at unattended locations and its modulation by attentional load.

Heavy episodic drinking and alcohol-related injuries: An open cohort study among college students.

AIM: The objective of this study is to assess the effects of Heavy Episodic Drinking (HED) on the incidence of alcohol-related injuries among university students in Spain, taking sex into consideration. METHODS: We carried out an open cohort study among college students in Spain (992 women and 371 men). HED and alcohol-related injuries were measured by question 3rd and 9th of Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test to every participant at the ages of 18, 20, 22, 24 and 27. For data analysis we used a Multilevel Logistic Regression for repeated measures adjusting for alcohol and cannabis use. RESULTS: The incidence rate of alcohol-related injuries was 0.028year-1 for females and 0.036year-1 for males. The multivariate analysis showed that among females a high frequency of HED and use of cannabis are risk factors for alcohol-related injuries (Odds Ratio [OR]=2.64 and OR=3.68), while being more than 23 is a protective factor (OR=0.34). For males, bivariate analysis also showed HED like risk factor (OR=4.69 and OR=2.51). Finally, the population attributable fraction for HED among females was 37.12%. CONCLUSIONS: HED leads to an increase of alcohol-related injuries in both sexes and being over 23 years old acts as a protective factor among women. Our results suggest that about one third of alcohol-related injuries among women could be avoided by removing HED.

Attentional load affects automatic emotional processing: evidence from event-related potentials.

One open question on the relation between attention and emotion concerns the automatic processing of emotional visual stimuli outside the focus of attention. This study examined to what extent the emotional processing at unattended locations is modulated by the processing load at attended locations. Event-related potentials were measured to task-irrelevant unpleasant and neutral pictures briefly presented at peripheral locations while participants performed a visual central task varying in load (low and high load). Unpleasant pictures elicited larger amplitudes of N1-P2 at parietoccipital and occipital sites than that of neutral pictures. This effect was only significant in the low-load condition. Data suggest that brain responses to affective value of task-irrelevant peripheral pictures are modulated by attentional load at fixation.

[Heavy episodic drinking, cannabis use and unsafe sex among university students]. / Consumo intensivo de alcohol y cannabis, y prácticas sexuales de riesgo en estudiantes universitarios.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the incidence of unsafe sex among university students and its association with heavy episodic drinking (HED) and cannabis use. METHOD: A cohort study was carried out from 2005 to 2011 among university students of the Compostela Cohort (n=517). HED was measured using the third question of the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT). Unsafe sex was considered to be sex under the influence of alcohol (SUA) and sex without a condom (SWC). Logistic regression models were created. RESULTS: The incidence of SUA was 40.9% for women and 53.0% for men, while the SWC incidence ranged from 13.7% for women to 25.7% for men. HED and cannabis use were associated with SUA in both women (OR=2.08, 95% CI: 1.03-4.21; OR=2.78, 95%CI: 1.57-4.92) and men (OR=4.74 (95%CI: 1.49-15.09; OR=4.37, 95%CI: 1.17- 16.36). Moreover, cannabis use in women was associated with SWC (OR=2.96, 95%CI: 1.52-5.75). The population attributable fractions of SUA for HED were 24.7% and 52.9% for women and men, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: HED and cannabis use represent a public health problem due to their association with a variety of problems, including engagement in unsafe sex. Our results suggest that a significant proportion of unsafe sex could be avoided by reducing this consumption pattern of alcohol.

Covert orienting of visuospatial attention in the early stages of aging.

Electrophysiological and behavioral responses were recorded in healthy young (19-23 years) and older (56-66 years) subjects during the execution of a visuospatial attention task. The objective was to test whether covert orienting of visuospatial attention (COVAT) is sensitive to the early stages of aging. All subjects responded faster to targets following valid than invalid cues. The amplitude of the P1 component of visual event-related potentials (ERP) was larger to targets following central valid cues at all SOAs. Subtle age-related changes were observed in P1 amplitude under peripheral cueing. Furthermore, older subjects presented longer reaction times (RTs) and lower P1 amplitudes regardless of the attention condition.

Evolution of the binge drinking pattern in college students: neurophysiological correlates.

It is well known that alcohol impairs response inhibition and that adolescence is a critical period of neuromaturation where cognitive processes such as inhibitory control are still developing. In recent years, growing evidence has shown the negative consequences of alcohol binge drinking on the adolescent and young human brain. However, the effects of cessation of binge drinking on brain function remain unexplored. The objective of the present study was to examine brain activity during response execution and inhibition in young binge drinkers in relation to the progression of their drinking habits over time. Event-related potentials (ERPs) elicited by a Go/NoGo task were recorded twice within a 2-year interval in 57 undergraduate students (25 controls, 22 binge drinkers, and 10 ex-binge drinkers) with no personal or family history of alcoholism or psychopathological disorders. The results showed that the amplitude of NoGo-P3 over the frontal region correlated with an earlier age of onset of regular drinking as well as with greater quantity and speed of alcohol consumption. Regression analysis showed that NoGo-P3 amplitude was significantly predicted by the speed of alcohol intake and the age of onset of regular drinking. The group comparisons showed that, after maintaining a binge drinking pattern for at least 2 years, binge drinkers displayed significantly larger NoGo-P3 amplitudes than controls, whereas ex-binge drinkers were in an intermediate position between the two other groups (with no significant differences with respect to controls or binge drinkers). These findings suggest that binge drinking in young people may impair the neural functioning related to inhibitory processes, and that the cessation of binge drinking may act as a brake on the neurophysiological impairments related to response inhibition.

Larger mid-dorsolateral prefrontal gray matter volume in young binge drinkers revealed by voxel-based morphometry.

Binge drinking or heavy episodic drinking is a high prevalent pattern of alcohol consumption among young people in several countries. Despite increasing evidence that binge drinking is associated with impairments in executive aspects of working memory (i.e. self-ordered working memory), processes known to depend on the mid-dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (Brodmann areas 46 and 9), less is known about the impact of binge drinking on prefrontal gray matter integrity. Here, we investigated the effects of binge drinking on gray matter volume of mid- dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in youths. We used voxel-based morphometry on the structural magnetic resonance images of subjects reporting a persistent (at least three years) binge drinking pattern of alcohol use (n = 11; age 22.43 ± 1.03) and control subjects (n = 21; age 22.18 ± 1.08) to measure differences in gray matter volume between both groups. In a region of interest analysis of the mid-dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, after co-varying for age and gender, we observed significantly larger gray matter volume in the left mid-dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (Brodmann areas 46 and 9) in binge drinkers in comparison with control subjects. Furthermore, there was a significant positive correlation between left mid-dorsolateral prefrontal cortex volume and Self-Ordered Pointing Test (SOPT) total errors score in binge drinkers. The left mid-dorsolateral prefrontal cortex volume also correlated with the quantity and speed of alcohol intake. These findings indicate that a repeated exposure to alcohol -that does not meet criteria for alcohol dependence- throughout post-adolescent years and young adulthood is linked with structural anomalies in mid-dorsolateral prefrontal regions critically involved in executive aspects of working memory.

'Can you look me in the face?' Short-term SSRI administration reverts avoidant ocular face exploration in subjects at risk for psychopathology.

Anxiety and depression are associated with altered ocular exploration of facial stimuli, which could have a role in the misinterpretation of ambiguous emotional stimuli. However, it is unknown whether a similar pattern is seen in individuals at risk for psychopathology and whether this can be modified by pharmacological interventions used in these disorders. In Study 1, eye gaze movement during face discrimination was compared in volunteers with high vs low neuroticism scores on the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire. Facial stimuli either displayed a neutral, happy, or fearful expression. In Study 2, volunteers with high neuroticism were randomized in a double-blind design to receive the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor citalopram (20 mg) or placebo for 7 days. On the last day of treatment, eye gaze movement during face presentation and the recognition of different emotional expressions was assessed. In Study 1, highly neurotic volunteers showed reduced eye gaze towards the eyes vs mouth region of the face compared with low neurotic volunteers. In Study 2, citalopram increased gaze maintenance over the face stimuli compared with placebo and enhanced recognition of positive vs negative facial expressions. Longer ocular exploration of happy faces correlated positively with recognition of positive emotions. Individuals at risk for psychopathology presented an avoidant pattern of ocular exploration of faces. Short-term SSRI administration reversed this bias before any mood or anxiety changes. This treatment effect may improve the capacity to scan social stimuli and contribute to the remediation of clinical symptoms related to interpersonal difficulties.

Vertical asymmetries and inhibition of return: effects of spatial and non-spatial cueing on behavior and visual ERPs.

The mechanisms underlying inhibition of return (IOR) are still under debate. Besides the probable implication of several processes in its generation, a reason for this uncertainty may be related to experimental factors affecting the presence, time course, and magnitude of IOR. Two of them may be related to the arrangement of the stimuli in the visual field that could cause possible interactions between IOR and response conflict effects (horizontal arrangements) or between IOR and perceptual asymmetries (vertical arrangement). The purpose of the present study was to explore location and color cueing effects with a vertical arrangement of stimuli, free of S-R compatibility effects. To examine this possibility, a cue-back task with stimuli in the vertical meridian was employed. Targets could randomly and equiprobably appear at cued or uncued locations, or with cued or uncued color. These cueing effects were analyzed on behavior and ERPs separately for upper and lower visual fields (UVF and LVF). Under location cueing, behavioral responses were slower (spatial IOR) in both hemifields. In the ERPs, N1 reductions were observed in both visual fields although with different modulations in their latency and scalp distribution. In the P3 rising beginning, posterior negative deflections in the LVF (Nd) and anterior positive deflections (Pd) in the UVF were observed. Under color cueing, P3 amplitude was reduced in the UVF accompanied by no behavioral effects. These results suggest that different patterns of brain activation can be obtained in upper and lower visual fields under spatial- and non-spatial cueing conditions.