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 brie£y 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.This study was supported by Spain’s Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia (SEJ2004-01377) and Xunta de Galicia (PGIDT05PXI21101PN)S

N2pc and attentional capture by colour and orientation-singletons in pure and mixed visual search tasks

The capture of attention by singleton stimuli in visual search is a matter of contention. Some authors propose that singletons capture attention in a bottom–up fashion if they are salient. Others propose that capture is contingent upon whether or not the stimuli share task-relevant attributes with the target. This study assessed N2pc elicited by colour and orientation singletons in a mixed task (the singleton defined as target changed block-to-block), and a pure task (the target was the same across the whole task). Both singletons elicited N2pc when acting as targets; when acting as non-targets, orientation singletons elicited N2pc only in the mixed task. The results suggest that the singletons were not salient enough to engage attention in a purely bottom–up fashion. Elicitation of N2pc by non-targets in the mixed task should be attributed to top–down processes associated with the current task. Stimuli that act as targets in part of the blocks become not completely irrelevant when non-targetsThis research was supported by a grant from the Spain's Ministry of Education and Sciences (SEJ 2007-61397) at the University of Santiago de CompostelaS

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). Behavioural 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 environmentsThis research was supported by a Project Grant to S.D. from the Consellería de Cultura, Educación e Ordenación Universitaria, Xunta de Galicia, Spain (EM2012/017). S.S-S was supported by a grant for predoctoral contracts from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, Spain (BES-2016-076298). A.C.N. is supported by Wellcome Trust Senior Investigator Award, United Kingdom (104571/Z/14/Z)S

Evolution of the binge drinking pattern in college students: neuropsychological 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 inhibitionThe study was supported by grants from the Consellería de Educación e Ordenación Universitaria, Xunta de Galicia (CN 2012/024), the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (PSI2011-22575) and the Ministerio de Sanidad y Política Social, Plan Nacional sobre Drogas (exp 2010/134).S

Impact of alcohol use on inhibitory control (and vice versa) during adolescence and young adulthood

Aims: Adolescence is usually the time when individuals first drink alcohol and this has been associated with relatively weak or immature inhibitory control. This review examines the changes on brain development and inhibitory function that take place during adolescence and youth as well as the relationship between inhibitory control and alcohol use at this early age. Methods: Narrative review of the chief studies related to (a) the development of inhibitory control during adolescence, (b) the deficits in the inhibitory ability in alcohol use disorders and (c) the effects of acute alcohol intake and binge drinking on inhibitory control in adolescents and young adults. Results: Inhibitory control processes are developing during adolescence and youth. Poor inhibitory functions may predispose the individual to alcohol misuse. Likewise, acute and binge alcohol drinking may impair the inhibitory control and compromise the ability to prevent or stop behaviour related to alcohol use. Conclusion: Poor inhibitory control can be both the cause and the consequence of excessive alcohol use. Adolescence and young adulthood may be a particularly vulnerable period due to (a) the weak or immature inhibitory functioning typical of this stage may contribute to the inability of the individual to control alcohol use and (b) alcohol consumption per se may alter or interrupt the proper development of inhibitory control leading to a reduced ability to regulate alcohol intake. Further longitudinal research is needed to evaluate the interaction between inhibitory control dysfunction and alcohol use in both situationsThe study was supported by grants from the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (PSI2011-22575) and the Ministerio de Sanidad y Política Social, Plan Nacional sobre Drogas (exp 2010/134)S

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 0.028 year−1 for females and 0.036 year−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 HEDThis work was supported by the Spanish National Plan on Drugs (N.P.D)(grant number 2005/PN014), and MICINN (grant number PSI2011-22575)S

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 dur- ing the execution ofa 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 P1component 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 ofthe attention condition.This study was supported by the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia yTecnolog|ía (MCYT-DGI) grant BSO2000-0041; and by Xunta de Galicia grants PGIDT01PXI21101PN and PGIDT00PXI21102PRS

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.This investigation was supported by grants from the Spanish Ministerio de Sanidad, Servicios Sociales e Igualdad, Plan Nacional sobre Drogas (PNSD 2015/034), Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (PSI2015-70525-P) co-funded for European Regional Development Fund and Xunta de Galicia (GRC ED431C 2017/06). SS-S was supported by a predoctoral fellowship from the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (BES-2016-076298). JP-G was supported by the FPU program from the Spanish Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte (FPU16/01573)S

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.This work was supported by grants PID 2020-113487RB-100, funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033; PSI2011-22575, funded by MCIN, and GRC ED431C 2021/08, funded by the Department of I + D of the Regional Government, Xunta de GaliciaS

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 22.4361.03) and control subjects (n = 21; age 22.1861.08) 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 middorsolateral 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 memoryThis study was supported by a grant from the ConsellerÍa de Industria e InnovaciÓn, Xunta de Galicia (INCITE08PXIB211015PR) and by two grants from the Ministerio de Ciencia e InnovaciÓn of Spain (EDU2008-03400; PSI2011-22575). SD was supported by a postdoctoral contract from the Isidro Parga Pondal program (Xunta de Galicia, Spain). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscriptS