Background: Executive deficits have widely been reported in young binge drinkers over the last
decade, but uncertainty remains regarding the specificity of these deficits and their variation across
executive subcomponents. The current study aimed to offer a theoretically grounded and specific
exploration of the differential deficits observed across executive functions in binge drinkers.
Method: A total of 40 university students (20 binge drinkers: 10 women; 20 matched controls: 12
women) performed three validated neuropsychological tasks, each exploring a specific executive function,
namely, shifting, updating, and inhibition (specifically resistance to distractor interference). Tasks
were presented to participants in pseudo-randomized order. Repeated measure analyses of variance
were performed to compare group performance.
Results: A dissociation was observed across executive tasks regarding group differences: compared
with controls, binge drinkers demonstrated preserved performance for shifting and updating abilities,
but impaired inhibition. These results support the central role of inhibitory control in excessive alcohol
consumption. In contrast to severe alcohol use disorders, binge drinking does not appear to be related
to a general executive deficit.
Conclusions: In view of the pivotal role played by inhibition impairments in the emergence of severe
alcohol use disorders, these findings suggest that individualized evaluation and rehabilitation programs
focusing on this inhibitory control subcomponent may improve control abilities in early stages of
alcohol-related disorders.