Wetherill, Squeglia et al. (2013). In this longitudinal fMRI study, 40 participants ages 12–17 years were scanned before they had ever consumed alcohol. They were then followed up for three years and divided into two groups: AU youth (defined as those who transitioned into heavy drinking, n = 20; 9 females) and non-AU youth (continuous non-drinkers with limited use; n = 20; 9 females, matched demographically to the AU group). During baseline scanning, participants carried out a go/no-go task (Norman et al., 2011; Wetherill, Castro, et al., 2013), which was repeated on the same scanner approximately three years later. Importantly, the ability to inhibit prepotent response significantly improved with age. Despite no group differences in performance, AU youth showed significant differences in several brain regions. A group × time interaction was observed, whereby at baseline, AU youth showed less activation across relevant inhibitory circuitry including the bilateral middle frontal gyri, right inferior parietal lobule, left putamen, and left cerebellar tonsil. At the follow-up, AU youth showed the reverse pattern, with relatively greater activation than non-AU youth across task-relevant regions including
