Alcohol Sensitivity, Approach Bias, and Inhibitory Control in Young Adult Binge Drinkers

Poster Session A - Saturday, April 13, 2024, 2:30 – 4:30 pm EDT, Sheraton Hall ABC

Luke Poole¹ (lgp34@kines.rutgers.edu), Jonathon Bourque², Hannah Perdue³, Amber Sarwani⁴, Andrew Ude⁵, Marsha Bates⁶, Brandon Alderman⁷; ¹Rutgers University

Binge drinking is a prevalent alcohol consumption pattern in young adults and may portend future health consequences. This risky health behavior has been framed within dual-process theories of addiction, positing that individuals characterized by heightened incentive salience to alcohol cues coupled with weak regulatory control may be at particular risk for alcohol-related consequences. The aim of this study was to examine alcohol sensitivity, inhibitory control, and approach bias in a sample of young adults who endorse binge drinking. Eighty-two young adults (57 females; Mage=20.7 years) recruited as part of a larger study completed two alcohol-cued tasks (Oddball and Go/No-Go) while electroencephalography was recorded. The no-go N2 and context updating P3 event-related potential (ERP) components were isolated to assess inhibitory control and approach bias, respectively. Regardless of sensitivity, no-go N2 was more negative to alcohol relative to non-alcohol cued trials (g=.18) while context updating P3 to target alcohol images was larger in neutral relative to positive and negative contexts (ηp2=.11, p<.05). Additionally, context updating P3 was blunted in low relative to high sensitivity groups, particularly within neutral contexts (g=.35). Findings suggest that alcohol cues elicit marked inhibitory control conflict and approach bias in young adult binge drinkers, and those of low sensitivity exhibit sensitized reactivity in the context of salient alcohol cues.

Topic Area: EXECUTIVE PROCESSES: Monitoring & inhibitory control