Squeglia et al. (2011). In this study, 40 AU youth (defined as binge drinkers; 13 females) and 55 non-AU youth (non-drinkers; 24 females), ages 16–19 years, were evaluated with the same SWM and baseline vigilance task employed by Tapert et al. (2004b) and Caldwell et al. (2005). There were no significant group differences in task performance. Based on previous findings, the authors conducted a targeted evaluation of five ROIs. Among these regions, AU youth showed less activation than non-AU youth in the right SFG and right IFG. This team also found interactions between AU and gender in the ROI and exploratory whole brain analyses. To this end, female AU youth showed less activity during SWM than female non-AU youth, while male AU youth showed more activity than male non-AU youth across the left MFG, right middle temporal gyrus, left superior temporal gyrus and left cerebellum. The authors suggested that this pattern, particularly the hypoactivation observed in female AU youth, may reflect a greater impact of alcohol consumption on the development of female youths' frontal brain regions, contributing to a negative feedback loop between frontal engagement, executive control, and subsequent risk for future AU.
