Low-Level Alcohol Consumption in Children 11-12 Years Old Is Linked to Neural Substrates Involved in Reward...

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Developmental Psychology
• Addiction Research

Background:

• Examined structural and functional neural correlates of alcohol sipping in early adolescence.
• Utilized two waves of data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study.
• Included baseline (ages 9-10) and 2-year follow-up (ages 11-12) data.

Purpose of the Study:

• Investigate the neural basis of alcohol sipping in adolescents.
• Determine if brain structure and function predict alcohol sipping behavior.
• Identify early neural markers associated with alcohol involvement.

Main Methods:

• Employed generalized linear mixed models to analyze brain regions of interest.
• Assessed cross-sectional and prospective associations.
• Examined brain activation during Monetary Incentive Delay (MID) and emotional N-back tasks.

Main Results:

• Sipping correlated with activation in 12 regions during MID large reward vs. neutral contrast (e.g., nucleus accumbens).
• Sipping associated with activation in 13 regions during MID large loss vs. neutral contrast (e.g., insula).
• Findings indicate involvement of reward and inhibitory control neural pathways.

Conclusions:

• Neural regions associated with reward and inhibitory control are linked to adolescent alcohol sipping.
• Year 2 findings align with adult neural correlates of alcohol use and disorder.
• Alcohol sipping may serve as a crucial phenotype for predicting future alcohol involvement.