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Impulsivity and Reward Processing Endophenotypes in Youth Alcohol Misuse

  • Adolescent / Young Adult Addiction (T Chung, Section Editor)
  • Published:
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Abstract

Purpose of Review

We describe the contribution of impulsivity and reward processing endophenotypes to understanding youth alcohol misuse. We discuss studies that included self-report, behavioral, and neural measures of these endophenotypes.

Recent Findings

Regarding impulsivity, youth who misuse alcohol tend to engage in suboptimal decision-making and have increased urgency—diminished self-control due to emotional disruption. There is some evidence that prefrontal and parietal brain regions are hypoactive during response inhibition tasks in low-to-moderate alcohol misuse, with hyperactivation of dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and cingulate cortex associated with heavier misuse. Increased self-reported reward sensitivity is a risk factor for adolescent alcohol-use. Brain responses to rewards in youth alcohol misusers have produced inconsistent findings, perhaps due to the influence of other factors, such as family history and pubertal status at first drinking episode.

Summary

Understanding of the etiology and generating preventative strategies for youth alcohol misuse could be enhanced by the accurate characterization of endophenotypes related to impulsivity and reward sensitivity.

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Funding

LOH is supported by an Irish Research Council Post-Graduate Scholarship (GOIPG/2016/1635). MB is supported by an Irish Research Council Postdoctoral Fellowship (GOIPD/2016/617). RW received funding from Science Foundation Ireland (16/ERCD/3797) and The European Foundation for Alcohol Research (ERAB; 14,127/205512).

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Author notes

  1. María Moreno Padilla and Laura O’Halloran contributed equally to this article

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Jaén, Campus Las Lagunillas, Jaén, Spain

    María Moreno Padilla

  2. School of Psychology, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland

    Laura O’Halloran, Marc Bennett & Robert Whelan

  3. School of Psychology, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland

    Zhipeng Cao

  4. Global Brain Health Institute, Lloyd Institute, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland

    Robert Whelan

Authors
  1. María Moreno Padilla
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  2. Laura O’Halloran
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  3. Marc Bennett
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  4. Zhipeng Cao
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  5. Robert Whelan
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Correspondence to Robert Whelan.

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This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Adolescent/Young Adult Addiction

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Moreno Padilla, M., O’Halloran, L., Bennett, M. et al. Impulsivity and Reward Processing Endophenotypes in Youth Alcohol Misuse. Curr Addict Rep 4, 350–363 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40429-017-0167-6

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