Alcohol addiction of parents may affect brain function in kids

One of the most common misconceptions that people have is that their drinking habits are not affecting the people around them, especially children. Though many studies have proven that a history of alcohol or drug abuse in a person’s family is likely to affect them on an individual basis. A research was conducted that looked into a person’s entire brain configuration in both conscious and sub-conscious states, disregarding the person’s drinking habits. It was found that if the parents of the person have had a history of an alcohol addiction disorder, it is highly likely to affect the cognitive function of the child.

It is a state where a person is occupied with alcohol most of the time. This works like a pattern and causes the individual to have problems in controlling the drinking habit, consuming alcohol when some problem arises, continuing the consumption even when it is causing health problems. People are often found having withdrawal symptoms wherein, when they try to distance themselves from its consumption, they feel dizzy and nauseatic. Binge drinking or drinking around 5 times every two hours is one of the symptoms of alcohol use disorder.

The human brain is programmed to reset itself once a task is completed and goes in a state of rest automatically. However, in the research conducted by the researchers at Purdue University and Indiana University School of Medicine, it was found that the process of resetting or reconfiguration of the brain goes systematically in people who have a family history in alcohol use disorder. Enrico Amico, a former Purdue researcher conducted this study. The team of researchers scanned the brain function of 54 participants with MRI scans who were asked to complete a mentally demanding task on the computer. Apart from brain activity, their reaction to delayed rewards was also being observed by the researchers.

David Kareken, a professor of neurology explained how the brain switches itself in different tasks and states. In the research, it was found that the people with a family history of alcoholism showed lower task-switching happening in the brain than others.

"These brain regions talk to each other and are very strongly implicated in the task even though by this point, the task is already completed. It almost seems like an echo in time of what had been going on," Kareken explained further.

Almost half of the 54 people showed a history of alcoholism in their families. It was discovered that the participants not only lacked a quicker brain function but also had symptoms of depression, reward-impatience and a reflection of alcoholism.

Inputs from ANI

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