Binge drinking affects attention and working memory in young university students

* A new study looks at binge drinking's impact on attention and visual working memory processes in young Spanish university students.
* Results indicate that binge drinkers expend more attentional effort to complete a given task, and also have problems differentiating between relevant and irrelevant information

Binge drinkers are defined as males who drink five or more standard alcohol drinks, and females who drink four or more, on one occasion and within a two-hour interval. A recent study of binge drinking's impact on attention and visual working memory processes in young Spanish university students has found that binge drinkers expend more attentional effort to complete a given task, and also have a deficiency in differentiating between relevant and irrelevant information.

Results will be published in the November issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research and are currently available at Early View.

1."Currently, about 40 percent of university students in the U.S. are considered binge drinkers, while 12.2 percent of Spanish university students may be," explained Alberto Crego, a doctoral student at the University of Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, Spain and corresponding author for the study. "One of the reasons for this is because in Anglo-Saxon countries there is a longer tradition of drinking linked to weekend diversions and characterized by sporadic consumption of large quantities of alcohol in short periods. While in Mediterranean countries such as Spain, alcohol consumption is traditionally more regular and linked to gastronomy."

However, the traditional pattern of drinking that is characterized by low intake of wine and beer may be changing, noted Francisco Caamaño-Isorna, a professor in the department of public health at the University of Santiago de Compostela. "Recent reports from the Spanish Drug Observatory suggest that the prevalence of binge drinking is increasing."

"One of the most relevant and worrying aspects of the high prevalence of intense consumption of alcohol in young people is the effect this drinking pattern probably has on the structure and function of the still developing brain, and that these consequences may persist in the long term," said Crego. "Some neuromaturation processes continue until approximately 25 years of age; this means that late developing regions are probably even more vulnerable targets."

Furthermore, he added, a binge-drinking pattern of abusive, intermittent consumption causes greater damage than consuming similar amounts of alcohol in a more continual, less intense pattern of drinking. "This cyclical pattern of alcohol consumption usually leading to drunkenness, and then abstinence – which includes the 'morning after' hangover – is similar to the pattern observed in chronic alcoholics, and their cycles of abuse/dependence and detoxification. Given that neurocognitive alterations tend to increase with the number of detoxification episodes, investigating possible neurocognitive consequences of binge drinking takes on even more importance."