fMRI response during figural memory task performance in college drinkers.
BACKGROUND
Eighteen- to twenty-five-year-olds show the highest rates of alcohol use disorders (AUD) and heavy drinking, which may have critical neurocognitive implications. Regions subserving memory may be particularly susceptible to alcohol-related impairments.


OBJECTIVE
We used blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine the neural correlates of visual encoding and recognition among heavy-drinking college students. We predicted that heavy drinkers would show worse memory performance, increased frontal/parietal activation, and decreased hippocampal response during encoding.


METHODS
Participants were 23 heavy drinkers and 33 demographically matched light drinkers, aged 18-20, characterized using quantity/frequency of drinking and AUD diagnosis. Participants performed a figural encoding and recognition task during fMRI. BOLD response during encoding was modeled based on whether each stimulus was subsequently recognized or forgotten (i.e., correct vs. incorrect encoding).


RESULTS
There were no group differences in behavioral performance. Compared to light drinkers, heavy drinkers showed (1) greater BOLD response during correct encoding in the right hippocampus/medial temporal, right dorsolateral prefrontal, left inferior frontal, and bilateral posterior parietal cortices; (2) less left inferior frontal activation and greater bilateral precuneus deactivation during incorrect encoding; and (3) less bilateral insula response during correct recognition (clusters >10,233 μl, p < 0.05 whole brain).


CONCLUSIONS
This is the first investigation of the neural substrates of figural memory among heavy-drinking older adolescents. Heavy drinkers demonstrated compensatory hyperactivation of memory-related areas during correct encoding, greater deactivation of default mode regions during incorrect encoding, and reduced recognition-related response. Results could suggest use of different encoding and recognition strategies among heavy drinkers.
Department of Psychiatry, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA, alecia.dager@yale.edu.
Alecia D
AD
Dager
Sharna
S
Jamadar
Michael C
MC
Stevens
Rivkah
R
Rosen
Rachel E
RE
Jiantonio-Kelly
Jason-Flor
JF
Sisante
Sarah A
SA
Raskin
Howard
H
Tennen
Carol S
CS
Austad
Rebecca M
RM
Wood
Carolyn R
CR
Fallahi
Godfrey D
GD
Pearlson
D000293:Adolescent; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000523:psychology*; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000523:psychology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000502:physiology; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology*; D010100:Oxygen / Q000097:blood; D010296:Parietal Lobe / Q000502:physiology; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000187:drug effects; D021641:Recognition, Psychology / Q000502:physiology; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology; D055815:Young Adult
D010100:Oxygen