Binge Drinking and Memory in Adolescents and Young Adults

The binge drinking (BD) pattern of alcohol consumption, characterized by intermittent consumption of large quantities of alcohol in short periods, is currently prevalent during adolescence and early youth. This period is characterized by critical changes to the structural and functional development of brain areas related with memory, as well as other executive functions. As a result, BD has been associated with undermined learning and memory ability in adolescents and youths of both sexes. One distinctive contribution of this chapter is to evaluate, together, the impact of an acute BD episode, the sample ’ s history of consumption, and its effect on learning and memory performance and as potential gender differences. The main findings of the published research show that BD has differential effects on several types of memory and confirm that women are more vulnerable to these detrimental effects of alcohol than are men. These cognitive differences between men and women seem to be overridden as the blood alcohol concentration progres-sively increases. As BD pattern of consumption has been associated with inhibitory control deficits, future research also should investigate long-term implementation of inhibitory control training, emphasizing the importance of this training as part of the intervention strategies focused on this at-risk group.