Increased Forebrain Activations in Youths with Family Histories of Alcohol and Other Substance Use Disorders Performing a Go/NoGo Task

Background Youths with a family history of alcohol and other drug use disorders ( FH +) are at a greater risk of developing substance use disorders than their peers with no such family histories ( FH −), and this increased risk may be related to impaired maturation of forebrain circuitry. FH + individuals have shown altered forebrain activity at rest and while performing cognitive tasks. However, it is not fully understood how forebrain activity is altered in FH + individuals, and ultimately how these alterations may contribute to substance use disorder risk. Methods In this study, we tested 72 FH + and 32 FH − youths performing a go/no‐go task and examined activations in blocks with only go trials (Go Only), blocks with 50% go and 50% no‐go trials (Go/NoGo), and a contrast of those 2 blocks. Results FH + youths had significantly greater cerebral activations in both the Go and Go/NoGo blocks than FH − youths in regions including the posterior cingulate/precuneus, bilateral middle/superior temporal gyrus, and medial superior frontal gyrus with no significant group differences in the subtraction between Go Only and Go/NoGo blocks. Additionally, FH + youths had moderately slower reaction times on go trials in the Go Only blocks. Conclusions Our findings suggest that global activation increase in FH + youths are modulated by FH density and are not specific to the inhibitory components of the task. This pattern of increased activations in FH + youths may be at least partially due to impaired forebrain white matter development leading to greater activations/less efficient neural communication during task performance.