title: Binge drinking and declarative memory in university students.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Psicoloxía Clínica e Psicobioloxía, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain. maria.parada@usc.es
authors.forename: María
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Parada
authors.forename: Montserrat
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Corral
authors.forename: Francisco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Caamaño-Isorna
authors.forename: Nayara
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Mota
authors.forename: Alberto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Crego
authors.forename: Socorro Rodríguez
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Holguín
authors.forename: Fernando
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Cadaveira
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000473:pathology / Q000639:trends; D002492:Central Nervous System Depressants / Q000506:poisoning*; D002677:Chile / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000208:ethnology; D000431:Ethanol / Q000506:poisoning*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000187:drug effects*; D011594:Psychometrics; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology*; D014495:Universities; D014706:Verbal Learning / Q000187:drug effects; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D002492:Central Nervous System Depressants; D000431:Ethanol