Table 1.
Human studies reporting neurocognitive effects of regular alcohol and marijuana exposure in adolescents and emerging adults (organized by cognitive, structural, or functional consequences and clustered according to functional outcomes).
| Alcohol use disorder studies | Teenage onset worse? | Cognitive deficits | Brain structure abnormalities | Brain function abnormalities |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hicks et al. (2012) | Yes | ↑ behavioral disinhibition | ||
| Lyvers et al. (2009) | Yes | ↑ reward sensitivity; disinhibition | ||
| Lyvers et al. (2011) | Yes | ↑ reward sensitivity; disinhibition | ||
| Brown et al. (2000) | ↓ verbal memory | |||
| Hanson et al. (2011) | ↓ verbal memory | |||
| Thoma et al. (2011) | ↓ processing speed | |||
| Koskinen et al. (2011) | ↓ attention | |||
| Tapert and Brown (1999) | ↓ attention | |||
| Giancola et al. (1998) | ↓ visuospatial ability | |||
| Sher et al. (1997) | ↓ visuospatial ability | |||
| Tapert et al. (2002a) | ↓ visuospatial ability | |||
| Moss et al. (1994) | ↓ language | |||
| White et al. (2011) | ↓ executive functioning, inhibition | |||
| Howard et al. (2011) | ↑ antisocial personality disorder symptoms | |||
| De Bellis et al. (2000) | ↓ HC volume | |||
| Nagel et al. (2005) | ↓ left HC volume | |||
| Medina et al. (2007a) | ↓ left HC volume | |||
| Medina et al. (2010) | ↓ cerebellar vermis GM volume | |||
| De Bellis et al. (2005) | ↓ PFC volume | |||
| Medina et al. (2008) | ↓ PFC volume | |||
| Caldwell et al. (2005) | Females: ↓ superior frontal, temporal, cingulate, fusiform BOLD response during SWM task; Males opposite pattern. | |||
| Park et al. (2011) | ↓ PFC, temporal, parietal, cerebellar, ↑uncus fMRI BOLD during VWM task in males | |||
| Tapert et al. (2004) | ↓ PFC, occipital, cerebellar, ↑parietal fMRI BOLD during SWM task | |||
| Tapert et al. (2001) | ↓ PFC, parietal fMRI BOLD during SWM task in females | |||
| Binge-drinking studies | Teenage onset worse? | Cognitive findings | Brain structure findings | Brain function findings |
| Hartley et al. (2004) | ↓ sustained attention, memory, psychomotor speed | |||
| Parada et al. (2011) | ↓ verbal memory, working memory, perseverative responding | |||
| Scaife and Duka (2009) | ↓ verbal memory, SWM, cognitive inhibition | |||
| Townshend and Duka (2005) | ↓ SWM, cognitive inhibition, rule acquisition | |||
| Lisdahl et al. (2013) | ↓ L/R cerebellar GM and WM volumes | |||
| McQueeny et al. (2009) | ↓ white matter integrity DTI (CC, superior longitudinal fasciculus, corona radiate, internal/external capsules) | |||
| Squeglia et al. (2012) | Females: ↑ PFC/cingulate thickness; Males: ↓PFC/cingulate thickness | |||
| Courtney and Polich (2010) | ↑EEG spectral power in delta and fast beta bands | |||
| Crego et al. (2010) | ↓ERP in anterior/inferior PFC | |||
| Ehlers et al. (2007) | ↓P300 ERP amplitude | |||
| López-Caneda et al. (2012) | ↑go-P3 ERP in right inferior PFC | |||
| Maurage et al. (2009) | ↓P1, N2, P3b ERP latency | |||
| Gilman et al. (2012) | ↓NAcc, amygdala fMRI BOLD during emotional cues task after consuming alcohol | |||
| Schweinsburg et al. (2010a) | ↓HC fMRI BOLD during verbal encoding task | |||
| Squeglia et al. (2011) | Females: ↓PFC, temporal, and cerebellar BOLD during SWM fMRI task. Males: opposite pattern. | |||
| Xiao et al. (2012) | ↑amygdala, insula fMRI BOLD during IGT task | |||
| Marijuana studies | Teenage onset worse? | Cognitive findings | Brain structure findings | Brain function findings |
| Meier et al. (2012) | Yes | ↓ IQ | ||
| Pope et al. (2003) | Yes | ↓ IQ | ||
| Ehrenreich et al. (1999) | Yes | ↓ attention | ||
| Huestegge et al. (2002) | Yes | ↓ visual search | ||
| Fontes et al. (2011) | Yes | ↓ executive functioning | ||
| Solowij et al. (2012) | Yes | ↓ executive functioning | ||
| Churchwell et al. (2010) | Yes | ↓ PFC volume | ||
| Gruber et al. (2011) | Yes | ↑ impulsivity | ↓ WM integrity in PFC | |
| Lopez-Larson et al. (2011) | Yes | ↓ superior PFC thickness | ||
| Wilson et al. (2000) | Yes | ↓ total GM; ↑total WM | ||
| Becker et al. (2010a) | Yes | ↑left superior PFC fMRI BOLD during working memory task in early onset | ||
| Becker et al. (2010b) | No | ↑left parahippocampal gyrus, fMRI BOLD during learning task in all MJ users | ||
| Gruber et al. (2012) | Yes | ↓anterior cingulate fMRI BOLD during inhibition task in early onset | ||
| Jager et al. (2010) | Yes | ↑PFC fMRI BOLD during novel stimuli presentation in working memory task in early onset | ||
| Fried et al. (2005) | ↓ processing speed verbal memory | |||
| Hanson et al. (2010b) | ↓ complex attention, verbal memory | |||
| Harvey et al. (2007) | ↓ complex attention, verbal memory; executive functioning | |||
| Lisdahl and Price (2012) | ↓ complex attention processing speed, sequencing ability, cognitive inhibition | |||
| Medina et al. (2007a) | ↓ complex attention processing speed, verbal memory, sequencing ability | |||
| Mathias et al. (2011) | ↓ complex attention, executive functioning | |||
| Tapert et al. (2002a) | ↓ complex attention | |||
| McHale and Hunt (2008) | ↓ verbal memory, executive functioning | |||
| Schwartz et al. (1989) | ↓ verbal memory | |||
| Solowij et al. (2011) | ↓ verbal memory; executive functioning | |||
| Tait et al. (2011) | ↓ verbal memory | |||
| Thoma et al. (2011) | ↓ verbal memory | |||
| Gonzalez et al. (2012) | ↓ executive functioning | |||
| Grant et al. (2012) | ↓ executive functioning | |||
| Schuster et al. (2012) | ↓ executive functioning; ↑risky sexual behavior | |||
| McQueeny et al. (2011) | ↑ depressive symptoms | Females: ↑left amygdala | ||
| Medina et al. (2007b) | ↑ depressive symptoms | ↓global WM | ||
| Jarvis et al. (2008) | ↑amygdala volume | |||
| Ashtari et al. (2011) | ↓ verbal memory | ↓HC volume | ||
| Medina et al. (2007b) | ↑left HC volume | |||
| Churchwell et al. (2010) | ↓ executive functioning | ↓right medial orbitofrontal cortex volume | ||
| Lopez-Larson et al. (2011) | ↓right caudal, middle frontal, inula, superior frontal thickness; ↑lingual, temporal, inferior parietal, paracentral thickness | |||
| Medina et al. (2010) | ↓ executive functioning | ↑inferior cerebellar vermis volume | ||
| Medina et al. (2009) | ↓ executive functioning | Females: ↑inferior PFC volume | ||
| Arnone et al. (2008) | ↓WM integrity (corpus collosum) | |||
| Ashtari et al. (2009) | ↓WM integrity (arcuate fasciculus) | |||
| Bava et al. (2009) | ↓white matter integrity in 10 regions (especially PFC, parietal cortex); ↑WM integrity in occipital cortex | |||
| DeLisi et al. (2006) | No WM differences detected | |||
| Prescot et al. (2011) | ↓ACC glutamate, N-acetyl aspartate, creatine, myo-inositol | |||
| Silveri et al. (2011) | ↓subcortical GM myo-inositol/creatine; WM myo-inositol | |||
| Abdullaev et al. (2010) | ↑PFC fMRI BOLD during attentional control task | |||
| Harding et al. (2012) | ↑ PFC and occipitoparietal connectivity as task demands increase | |||
| Jacobsen et al. (2007) | ↓ PFC, parietal connectivity during verbal working memory task while undergoing nicotine withdrawal | |||
| Jacobus et al. (2012) | ↓ cerebral blood flow in temporal lobe, insula, and PFC | |||
| Jager et al. (2010) | ↑ PFC fMRI BOLD during verbal encoding task in males | |||
| Lopez-Larson et al. (2012) | ↓ cingulate gyrus, cerebellar fMRI BOLD during finger tapping task | |||
| Schweinsburg et al. (2008) | ↓ PFC, occipital, ↑parietal fMRI BOLD during SWM task | |||
| Schweinsburg et al. (2010b) | ↑ PFC, insula, ↓precentral fMRI BOLD during SWM task in recent MJ users vs. abstinent users | |||
| Smith et al. (2010) | ↑ inferior, middle PFC fMRI BOLD during SWM task | |||
| Tapert et al. (2007) | ↑ PFC, parietal, occipital fMRI BOLD during inhibitory processing task | |||
| Vaidya et al. (2012) | ↑ ventral medial PFC, cerebellar PET rCBF during IGT task | |||
Teenage onset worse? = “yes” – analysis revealed that teenage age of onset (<16, 17, or 18 years of age) was associated with significantly poorer neurocognitive outcome; if “no” – onset was not associated with outcome; if left blank – age of onset analysis was not conducted in this study. GM, gray matter; WM, white matter; PFC, prefrontal cortex; HC, hippocampus; SWM, spatial working memory; VWM, verbal working memory; IGT, Iowa Gambling task.