Behavioral and Cerebral Impairments Associated with Binge Drinking in Youth: A Critical Review

Binge drinking is a widespread alcohol consumption pattern in youth that is linked to important behavioral and cerebral impairments, in both the short and the long term. From a critical review of the current literature on this topic, we conclude that binge drinkers display executive impairments, cerebral modifications, and problems with emotion-related processes. Five key empirical and theoretical topics are discussed to pave the way for future research in the field: (1) the specificity of the brain modifications observed in binge drinkers that may index a compensatory mechanism or result from multiple withdrawals; (2) the nature of the relationship between binge drinking and impairments, suggesting reciprocal influences between excessive alcohol consumption and executive deficits; (3) the possible recovery of brain and cognitive functioning after the cessation of binge drinking; (4) the validity of the continuum hypothesis, suggesting links between binge drinking and severe alcohol use disorders; and (5) the existing strategies to reduce binge drinking habits or rehabilitate the associated cognitive deficits. Future perspectives are described in relation to the questions raised to identify the crucial variables to be addressed in research and clinical practice

Too good to be cautious: High implicit self-esteem predicts self-reported dangerous mobile phone use

Mobile phone use and misuse have become a pressing challenge in today’s society. Dangerous mobile phone use, such as the use of a mobile phone while driving, is widely practiced, though banned in several jurisdictions. Research aiming at unfolding the psychological predictors of dangerous mobile phone use have so far been scarce. Especially, researchers have never taken the role of self-esteem into account, which is unfortunate given prior research linking self-esteem to addictive mobile phone use. In the present study, we evaluated the associations between both explicit and implicit self-esteem and dangerous mobile phone use, with a particular focus on phoning while driving. To do so, we assessed implicit self-esteem among 95 participants (89 females) via the Implicit Association Test and explicit self-esteem via a self-reported measure. Problematic mobile phone use and demographic data were assessed with self-reported measures. Implicit self-esteem predicted dangerous mobile phone use, even after we controlled for demographic data and mobile phone dependence. Explicit self-esteem, however, was related to neither dependence nor dangerous use of the mobile phone, thereby supporting the importance of distinguishing between explicit and implicit self-esteem. Our results set the scene for new research avenues regarding mobile phone use while driving

Preserved crossmodal integration of emotional signals in binge drinking

Binge drinking is an alcohol consumption pattern with various psychological and cognitive consequences. As binge drinking showed qualitatively comparable cognitive impairments to those reported in alcohol-dependence, a continuum hypothesis suggests that this habit would be a first step toward alcohol-related disorders. Besides these cognitive impairments, alcohol-dependence is also characterized by large-scale deficits in emotional processing, particularly in crossmodal contexts, and these abilities have scarcely been explored in binge drinking. Emotional decoding, most often based on multiple modalities (e.g., facial expression, prosody or gesture), yet represents a crucial ability for efficient interpersonal communication and social integration. The present study is the first exploration of crossmodal emotional processing in binge drinking, in order to test whether binge drinkers already present the emotional impairments described among alcohol-dependent patients, in line with the continuum hypothesis. Twenty binge drinkers and 20 matched controls performed an experimental task requiring the identification of two emotions (happiness or anger) presented in two modalities (visual or auditory) within three conditions (unimodal, crossmodal congruent or crossmodal incongruent). In accordance with previous research in binge drinking and alcohol-dependence, this study was based on two main hypotheses. First, binge drinkers would present a reduced facilitation effect (i.e., classically indexed in healthy populations by faster reaction times when two congruent modalities are presented simultaneously). Second, binge drinkers would have higher difficulties to inhibit interference in incongruent modalities. Results showed no significant difference between groups in emotional decoding ability, whatever the modality or condition. Control participants, however, appeared slower than binge drinkers in recognizing facial expressions, also leading to a stronger facilitation effect when the two modalities were presented simultaneously. However, findings did not show a disrupted facilitation effect in binge drinkers, whom also presented preserved performance to inhibit incongruence during emotional decoding. The current results thus suggest that binge drinkers do not demonstrate a deficit for emotional processing, both in unimodal and crossmodal contexts. These results imply that binge drinking might not be characterized by impairments for the identification of primary emotions, which could also indicate that these emotional processing abilities are well-preserved at early stages of excessive alcohol consumptio

Understanding Attentional Biases in Severe Alcohol Use Disorder: A Combined Behavioral and Eye-Tracking Perspective.

RATIONALE: Severe alcohol use disorder (SAUD) is a psychiatric condition linked to cerebral and cognitive consequences. SAUD is notably characterized by an overactivation of the reflexive/reward system when confronted with alcohol-related cues. Such overreactivity generates a preferential allocation of attentional resources toward these cues, labeled as attentional biases (AB). Theoretical assumptions have been made regarding the characteristics of AB and their underlying processes. While often considered as granted, these assumptions remain to be experimentally validated. AIMS: We first identify the theoretical assumptions made by previous studies exploring the nature and role of AB. We then discuss the current evidence available to establish their validity. We finally propose research avenues to experimentally test them. METHODS: Capitalizing on a narrative review of studies exploring AB in SAUD, the current limits of the behavioral measures used for their evaluation are highlighted as well as the benefits derived from the use of eye-tracking measures to obtain a deeper understanding of their underlying processes. We describe the issues related to the theoretical proposals on AB and propose research avenues to test them. Four experimental axes are proposed, respectively, related to the determination of (a) the genuine nature of the mechanisms underlying AB; (b) their stability over the disease course; (c) their specificity to alcohol-related stimuli and (d) their reflexive or controlled nature. CONCLUSIONS: This in-depth exploration of the available knowledge related to AB in SAUD, and of its key limitations, highlights the theoretical and clinical interest of our innovative experimental perspectives capitalizing on eye-tracking measures

Positive and Negative Urgency as a single coherent construct: Evidence from a large‐scale network analysis in clinical and non‐clinical samples

Aims: Negative and positive urgency are emotion-related impulsivity traits that are thought to be transdiagnostic factors in psychopathology. However, it has recently been claimed that these two traits are closely related to each other and that considering them separately might have limited conceptual and methodological value. The present study aimed to examine whether positive and negative urgency constructs constitute separate impulsivity traits. Methods: In contrast to previous studies that have used latent variable approaches, this study employed an item-based network analysis conducted in two different samples: a large sample of non-clinical participants (N = 18,568) and a sample of clinical participants with psychiatric disorders (N = 385). Results: The network analysis demonstrated that items denoting both positive and negative urgency cohere as a single cluster of items termed “general urgency” in both clinical and non-clinical samples, thereby suggesting that differentiating positive and negative urgency as separate constructs is not necessary. Conclusion: These findings have important implications for the conceptualization and assessment of urgency and, more broadly, for future research on impulsivity, personality, and psychopathology

Distinct and joint exploration of reflective and affective systems in binge drinking : a behavioral and electrophysiological approach

Binge drinking is a widespread alcohol consumption pattern in youth, described by excessive alcohol intakes in short episodes with some withdrawal periods. To offer a complete and integrated exploration of this consumption pattern, this work proposes a behavioral and electrophysiological approach of the dual-process model, explaining addictions by an imbalance between under-activated cognitive/reflective and over-activated affective/automatic systems. The results showed that binge drinking is characterized by inhibitory and attentional impairments, difficulties for emotional decoding and crossmodal integration, as well as an imbalance between these systems. This project expands the understanding of the cognitive impairments related to binge drinking, highlights the presence of emotional difficulties, and specifies the interaction between systems by supporting the existence of an imbalance, but to a lesser extent than in severe alcohol-use disorders.(PSYE - Sciences psychologiques et de l'éducation) -- UCL, 201

Beyond Inhibition: A Dual-Process Perspective to Renew the Exploration of Binge Drinking.

Binge drinking is a widespread alcohol-consumption pattern in youth and is linked to cognitive consequences, mostly for executive functions. However, other crucial factors remain less explored in binge drinking and notably the emotional-automatic processes. Dual-process model postulates that addictive disorders are not only due to impaired reflective system (involved in deliberate behaviors), but rather to an imbalance between under-activated reflective system and over-activated affective-automatic one (involved in impulsive behaviors). This proposal has been confirmed in alcohol-dependence, but has not been tested in binge drinking. The observation of comparable impairments in binge drinking and alcohol-dependence led to the "continuum hypothesis," suggesting similar deficits across different alcohol-related disorders. In this perspective, applying the dual-process model to binge drinking might renew the understanding of this continuum hypothesis. A three-axes research agenda will be proposed, exploring: (1) the affective-automatic system in binge drinking; (2) the systems' interactions and imbalance in binge drinking; (3) the evolution of this imbalance in the transition between binge drinking and alcohol-dependence

A joint exploration of executive subcomponents in binge drinking

Background: Executive deficits have been largely reported in young binge drinkers during the last decade, but uncertainty remains regarding the specificity of these deficits and their variation across executive subcomponents. The current study aimed at offering a theoretically-grounded and specific exploration of the differential deficits observed across executive functions in binge drinkers. Method: A total of forty university students (20 binge drinkers; 10 women, and 20 matched controls; 12 women) performed three validated neuropsychological tasks, each exploring a specific executive function, namely shifting, updating, and inhibition (specifically Resistance to Distractor Interference). Tasks were presented to participants in pseudo-randomized order. Repeated measure analyses of variance were performed for each task to compare groups’ performance. Results: A dissociation was observed across executive tasks regarding group differences: compared to controls, binge drinkers demonstrated preserved performance for shifting and updating abilities, but impaired inhibition. These results support the central role of inhibitory control in excessive alcohol consumption. In contrast with severe alcohol-use disorders, binge drinking does not appear related to a general executive deficit. Conclusions: In view of the pivotal role played by inhibition impairments in the emergence of severe alcohol-use disorders, the present data claim for developing individualized evaluation and rehabilitation programs focusing on this executive subcomponent to improve control abilities at early stages of alcohol-related disorders