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‘Binge drinking’ linked to memory loss in teenagers

Binge drinking by teenagers may put them at risk of everyday memory loss.

This is the finding of a study conducted by Thomas Heffernan, Rebecca Clark, Janice Bartholomew, Terence O’Neill all from the University of Northumbria, as well as colleagues from Keele University, presented at the British Psychological Society’s Annual Conference held in Dublin on Friday 4 April 2008.

Binge drinking is on the increase in young people and now represents a major problem within society. Although there is evidence that binge drinking in teenagers has a detrimental effect on memory for past events, little was known about its impact upon their prospective memory - the ability to remember something you had intended to do in the future, such as remembering to pay a bill on time, or to return a phone call.

In the study Dr Heffernan and colleagues compared the impact of binge drinking in teenagers on prospective memory. A ‘binge drinker’ was defined as someone who drank above six units for females and eight units for males on two or more occasions per week. In the study 26 binge drinkers and 34 non-bingers completed a range of tasks including a self-report and video-based prospective memory task.

The self-report asked questions about how often they had forgotten everyday tasks they intended to do, such as remembering to meet with friends. The video-based task required the person to remember particular tasks at different points along a video clip of a shopping trip along a busy street, for example, when you reach a particular shop - remember to check your mobile phone for a message.

Findings revealed that binge drinkers recalled fewer items on the video-based prospective memory task than non-binge drinkers, with no difference between the two groups in terms of self-reported memory failures.

Dr Heffernan said: "Evidence has shown that the structural and functional development of the brain continues in the teenage years. If our findings are confirmed, it is feasible that binge drinking in the teenage years may impede important development of the brain that may underpin memory."

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