Long-term risk preference and suboptimal decision making following adolescent alcohol usePNAS published online before print September 21, 2009
Individuals who abused alcohol at an early age show decision-making impairments. However, the question of whether maladaptive choice constitutes a predisposing factor to, or a consequence resulting from, alcohol exposure remains open.
To examine whether a causal link exists between voluntary alcohol consumption during adolescence and adult decision making the present studies used a rodent model.
These findings provide evidence that adolescent alcohol exposure may lead to altered decision making during adulthood and this model offers a promising approach to the investigation of the neurobiological underpinnings of this link.
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