Binge drinking and inhibitory control: a mini-review of fMRI studies

INTRODUCTION: Binge drinking (BD) refers to the intake of a high level of alcohol in a limited amount of time followed by a period of reduction or absence of alcohol consumption. Given the increase of BD during adolescence, understanding the potentially dangerous effects of consuming large amounts of alcohol on neural circuitry and cognitive status has public health and social importance. From a cognitive point of view, excessive alcohol intake at a young age can affect executive functions and, in particular, inhibitory control capacity. This, in turn, further reduces the ability to inhibit seeking and consuming alcohol at risky levels, up to the establishment of alcohol use disorders (AUD). Therefore, in this review, we describe current evidence from functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies that examined functional circuits associated with inhibitory control in binge drinkers.EVIDENCE ACQUISITION: The literature search retrieved 43 articles. After titles and abstracts screening, 30 records were excluded as they did not meet the inclusion criteria. Ten additional records were excluded after full-text review, while three studies were identified and include in this systematic mini-review.EVIDENCE ACQUISITION: Preliminary fMRI findings show increased activations in binge versus light drinkers during inhibitory control tasks (especially during incongruent conditions) in frontoparietal areas.CONCLUSIONS: In line with the continuum hypothesis, the results suggest that binge drinkers and individuals with AUD share functional brain alterations in regions ascribed to inhibitory control processes, reinforcing the hypothesis that BD and AUD may be considered two successive stages of the same phenomenon. Nontheless, longitudinal studies, in larger and better-characterized samples of binge and light drinkers, are needed to disentangle the role of inhibitory control processes in the development and maintenance of BD patterns. (Cite this article as: Rossetti MG, Longo C, Perlini C, Bellani M. Binge drinking and inhibitory control: a mini-review of