Diffusion tensor imaging studies have shown that adolescent binge drinking damages white matter tracts throughout the brain, including the principle fiber tracts leaving the hippocampus and those interconnecting the PFC [50,51]. Damage severity correlated positively with withdrawal severity and estimated blood alcohol concentrations [50], which underscores the risk associated with binge drinking, the most common drinking pattern in adolescents [2]. Consistent with white matter damage, functional studies measuring event-related potentials revealed delayed responses to auditory stimuli in binge drinking college freshman, effects which are hypothesized to reflect impaired stimulus perception and decision making processes [52]. The extent of this effect is alarming given that the delays resembled those recorded from alcohol-dependent adults, even though subjects had not yet progressed to AUD criterion [52].
