title: Adolescents' fMRI activation to a response inhibition task predicts future substance use.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Deficient behavioral regulation may be a risk factor for substance use disorders in adolescents. Abnormalities in brain regions critical to cognitive control have been linked to more intense and problematic future substance use (e.g., Durazzo, Gazdzinski, Mon, & Meyerhoff, 2010; Falk, Berkman, Whalen, & Lieberman, 2011; Paulus, Tapert, & Schuckit, 2005). The goal of this study was to examine the degree to which brain response to an inhibition task measured in mid-adolescence can predict substance use 18 months later.
  
  
  METHODS
  Adolescents aged 16-19 (N=80) performed a go/no-go response inhibition task during fMRI at project baseline, and were followed 18 months later with a detailed interview on substance use and dependence symptoms. Participants were 39 high frequency users and 41 demographically similar low frequency users (458 versus 2 average lifetime drug use occasions at baseline, respectively).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Across all subjects, no-go trials produced significant increases in neural response in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and a region including the left angular and supramarginal gyri (p(FWE)<.01, cluster threshold ≥ 30 voxels). Less ventromedial prefrontal activation but more left angular gyrus activation predicted higher levels of substance use and dependence symptoms in the following 18 months, particularly for those who were high frequency users in mid-adolescence (p<.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings are consistent with studies showing that impairments in cognitive control have strong associations with substance use. We found a predictive relationship between atypical activation patterns at baseline and substance use behavior 18 months later, particularly among adolescents with histories of previous heavy use.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, VA San Diego Healthcare System, San Diego, CA, USA.
authors.forename: O M
authors.initials: OM
authors.lastname: Mahmood
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Goldenberg
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Thayer
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Migliorini
authors.forename: A N
authors.initials: AN
authors.lastname: Simmons
authors.forename: S F
authors.initials: SF
authors.lastname: Tapert
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D005260:Female; D005544:Forecasting; D059907:Functional Neuroimaging; D006801:Humans; D007266:Inhibition, Psychological; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D010296:Parietal Lobe / Q000503:physiopathology*; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012307:Risk Factors; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D055815:Young Adult