Young frequent binge drinkers show no behavioral deficits in inhibitory control and cognitive flexibility

Alcohol intoxication and abuse are well-known to cause impairments in executive functioning and control. Still, we know surprisingly little about individuals engaging in frequent binge drinking, even though they have an increased risk to develop an alcohol use disorder (AUD) later in life. As this risk has been suggested to be linked to (premorbid) executive deficits, we assessed changes in cognitive flexibility and inhibition with the help of a switching task and a stop-change task. Both paradigms had previously been shown to be modulated by alcohol, as well as by functional variations in dopaminergic and GABAergic neurotransmission. We employed an extreme group approach, where we compared pre-selected samples of frequent binge drinkers and non-frequent binge drinkers, all of which had stably pursued their respective consumption pattern for at least 3 years. In combination with Bayes analyses, our results showed that individuals engaging in frequent binge drinking showed no impairments of cognitive flexibility or inhibition, as compared to non-frequent binge drinkers. These observations suggest that frequent binge drinking alone is not associated with the cognitive control deficits commonly observed in AUD. Importantly, the investigated executive functions are known to be altered both during binge drinking and in individuals with AUD. It could hence be speculated that their intermittent consumption pattern prevents non-AUD frequent binge drinkers from the homeostatic counter-regulations of alcohol- and control-associated neurotransmitter systems that may be observed in AUD patients. Yet, this hypothesis still needs to be tested in future research, including studies that combine MR and molecular imaging.