frontal cortex is the part of the brain that is affected by alcohol.
frontal cortex is the part of the brain that is affected by alcohol.
what part of the brain is memory affected by alcohol?
frontal cortex
alcohol has a powerful effect on glutamate as well. alcohol decreases glutamate's ability to bind with nmda and acts as an antagonist of the nmda receptor, which plays a critical role in ltp by allowing ca2+ to enter the cell. these inhibitory effects are thought to be responsible for the "memory blanks" that can occur at levels as low as 0.03% blood level. in addition, reduced glutamate release in the dorsal hippocampus has been linked to spatial memory loss. chronic alcohol users experience an upregulation of nmda receptors because the brain is attempting to reestablish homeostasis. when a chronic alcohol user stops drinking for more than 10 hours, apoptosis can occur due to excitotoxicity. the seizures experienced during alcohol abstinence are thought to be a result of this nmda upregulation. alteration of nmda receptor numbers in chronic alcoholics is likely to be responsible for some of the symptoms seen in delirium tremens during severe alcohol withdrawal, such as delirium and hallucinations. other targets such as sodium channels can also be affected by high doses of alcohol, and alteration in the numbers of these channels in chronic alcoholics is likely to be responsible for as well as other effects such as cardiac arrhythmia. other targets that are affected by alcohol include cannabinoid, opioid and dopamine receptors, although it is unclear whether alcohol affects these directly or if they are affected by downstream consequences of the gaba/nmda effects. people with a family history of alcoholism may exhibit genetic differences in the response of their nmda glutamate receptors as well as the ratios of gaba subtypes in their brain. alcohol inhibits sodium-potassium pumps in the cerebellum and this is likely how it corrupts cerebellar computation and body co-ordination.
short-term effects of alcohol consumption
alcohol abuse can result in brain damage which impairs working memory. alcohol has an effect on the blood-oxygen-level-dependent (bold) response. the bold response correlates increased blood oxygenation with brain activity, which makes this response a useful tool for measuring neuronal activity. the bold response affects regions of the brain such as the basal ganglia and thalamus when performing a working memory task. adolescents who start drinking at a young age show a decreased bold response in these brain regions. alcohol dependent young women in particular exhibit less of a bold response in parietal and frontal cortices when performing a spatial working memory task. binge drinking, specifically, can also affect one's performance on working memory tasks, particularly visual working memory. additionally, there seems to be a gender difference in regards to how alcohol affects working memory. while women perform better on verbal working memory tasks after consuming alcohol compared to men, they appear to perform worse on spatial working memory tasks as indicated by less brain activity. finally, age seems to be an additional factor. older adults are more susceptible than others to the effects of alcohol on working memory.
working memory