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Disruption of Frontal Lobe Neural Synchrony During Cognitive Control by Alcohol Intoxication
Published on: February 6, 2019
Cognitive functioning moderates the relation between Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder symptoms and alcohol
Sherry A Span1, Mitchell Earleywine
1Psychology Department, California State University Long Beach, 1250 Bellflower Boulevard, 90840-0901, USA. sspan@csulb.edu
Abstract:
Previous work revealed that cognitive functioning moderated the relation between Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) Symptoms and alcohol use [Alcohol., Clin. Exp. Res. 23 (1999) 224]. ADHD Symptoms correlated significantly with alcohol use for individuals with a poorer performance on tasks assessing prefrontal area functioning but not for individuals with higher scores on these tasks. The current study proposes to replicate this previous work and extend it in three ways. These include using a sample consisting solely of women, including the current DSM-IV [American Psychiatric Association (1994). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th ed., revised). Washington, DC: Author] criteria for ADHD, and increasing the number of measures to assess cognitive functioning and drinking habits. Eighty-two female undergraduates completed four measures of alcohol use, three measures of ADHD, and six measures of cognitive functioning. Stacked two-group analyses replicated the previous moderator effect. Alcohol use and ADHD symptoms correlated .31 (ns) for the individuals who scored higher on the neuropsychological tasks. However, these constructs correlated .53 (P < .05) for individuals with lower scores on these tasks. Better performance on tasks assessing prefrontal area functioning may protect individuals from drinking in accordance with their ADHD symptoms.
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