Working memory-related brain activations and deactivations linked with adolescent substance use via alexithymia.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

Adolescent substance use (SU) rates remain high, speaking to continued need for enhanced insight into etiological factors. While working memory-related task performance and brain activity have been highlighted as potential predictors, mechanistic links to SU remain unclear. One possible link explored here is alexithymia, which is characterized by difficulty describing, identifying, and recognizing emotions and associated with altered prefrontal cortex (PFC) and superior temporal gyrus (STG) activity.

Methods

Adolescents (n = 137) from a longitudinal study completed a n-back working memory (WM) task during fMRI scanning at baseline. Utilizing serial mediation models, we considered the interrelations between WM-related brain activity (i.e., lateral PFC [lPFC], STG

SUBMITTER: Sutherland BD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12552979 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature