Chunk #23 — HOW DO NEURAL SIGNATURES ASSOCIATED WITH AUD HELP ELUCIDATE THE ROLE OF BRAIN FUNCTION IN THE RISK AND CONSEQUENCES OF ALCOHOL USE AND AUD ACROSS THE LIFESPAN?
When COGA launched its prospective study of adolescent and young adult offspring (2004–2019), a neurocognitive battery was included to assess frontal lobe function during this critical developmental time period (e.g., to examine executive control and reward networks). In a Go/NoGo task, individuals with AUD and their high‐risk offspring showed lower frontal N200, P300 and frontal theta ERO during response inhibition, indicating less activation in frontal areas. 55 , 56 , 57 , 58 , 59 , 60 A series of studies using a Gambling task reported low P300 amplitudes and less theta ERO activation in frontal regions during the loss condition in individuals with AUD and high‐risk offspring, indicating deficits in reward processing. 37 , 62 , 63 , 64 Taken together, these findings indicate frontal lobe deficits in executive control and reward networks in adolescents and young adults at risk for developing AUD. 58 , 64
