Since the brain doesn’t fully develop until the early to mid 20s, what are the implications of drinking during the teenage years?
Young people tend to ramp up their drinking during the period when certain areas of the brain are still developing, so there is reason to be concerned about the potential effects that drinking can have on the developing brain. Q. What does the science tell us about the impact of youth alcohol use on the brain? A. Much of what we know comes from animal studies. Binge-like drinking in adolescent animals has been shown to affect memory, alter sensitivity to motor impairment, and damage frontal anterior cortical regions. Animal research also shows that certain areas of the adolescent brain are more vulnerable to damage from high levels of exposure to alcohol than corresponding regions in the adult brain. A limited number of studies with adolescents in treatment showed that they had some neurocognitive deficits in the areas of spatial processing and memory. Another study showed an association of heavy drinking in adolescence with reduced hippocampal volume. What we do not know is which, if
