Neuropsychological Assessment of Executive Function in Adolescents with Different Alcohol Consumption Patterns

Abstract

The principal goal of this study was to evaluate the neuropsychological performance in Executive Function (EF) tasks in adolescents with different patterns of alcohol use. An ex – post facto simple prospective design was used and three groups were identified in regard to alcohol drinking patterns (DP): light drinkers, moderate drinkers, and Binge drinkers. No differences were found in neuropsychological performance in EF tasks related to DP. Results of the present work highlights relevant issues that need to be considered in future works, like the importance of a better assessment of DP among Argentinean adolescents and the implementation of neuropsychological tasks developed to assess emotional aspects of EF, such us the decision making tasks.

Keywords

• Executive function
• Adolescence
• Drinking Patterns
• Alcohol.