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Experiments in rats show that adolescent alcohol abuse can have detrimental effects on the animal's decision-making in adulthood [PNAS, 106 (41):17600-17604].
Ilene Bernstein, PhD, and colleagues in the Department of Psychology at the University of Washington in Seattle, investigated whether consumption of high levels of alcohol impairs decision-making processes in the brain.
Previous research has shown that excessive alcohol intake during adolescence can interrupt critical rewiring and development in the developing brain. The authors provided young rats with access to alcohol-infused gelatin during 20 days of their adolescent period.
Three weeks later, at adulthood, the researchers trained the rats on a food reward task to measure the rats' decision-making abilities. Adult rats that had imbibed the alcohol-infused gel in adolescence were significantly more likely to make riskier choices than the control group. The drinking cohort also showed bias toward large but unlikely rewards, whereas rats from the control group chose more consistent rewards. The results were similar three months after the original experiments, well into the rats' adulthood.
The study may help determine the neurobiological link between adolescent alcohol abuse and impaired decision-making in adulthood, the authors suggest.
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