Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Experiment Videos

Long-term abstinent alcoholics have normal memory.

R J Reed1, I Grant, S B Rourke

  • 1Alcoholism Research Center, San Diego Veterans Affairs Medical Center, La Jolla, California.

Alcoholism, Clinical and Experimental Research
|August 1, 1992
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Biomarkers of Recent Cannabis Use in Blood, Oral Fluid and Breath.

Journal of analytical toxicology·2021
Same author

The Canadian Neuromuscular Disease Registry 2010-2019: A Decade of Facilitating Clinical Research Througha Nationwide, Pan-NeuromuscularDisease Registry.

Journal of neuromuscular diseases·2020
Same author

Parental ancestry and risk of early pregnancy loss at high altitude.

FASEB journal : official publication of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology·2020
Same author

Milk Microbiota: What Are We Exactly Talking About?

Frontiers in microbiology·2020
Same author

Comparison of sporadic and familial behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (FTD) in a North American cohort.

Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association·2020
Same author

Lost but not forgotten: A population-based study of mortality and care trajectories among people living with HIV who are lost to follow-up in Ontario, Canada.

HIV medicine·2018
Same journal

COVID-19 pandemic-related changes in utilization of telehealth and treatment overall for alcohol use problems.

Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research·2022
Same journal

The relationship between fathers' heavy episodic drinking and fathering involvement in five Asia-Pacific countries: An individual participant data meta-analysis.

Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research·2022
Same journal

Screening for hazardous alcohol use in the Emergency Department: Comparison of phosphatidylethanol with the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test and the Timeline Follow-back.

Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research·2022
Same journal

Combination treatment with varenicline and naltrexone reduces World Health Organization risk drinking levels.

Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research·2022
Same journal

College students' virtual and in-person drinking contexts during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research·2022
Same journal

Does state repeal of alcohol exclusion laws increase problem drinking?

Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research·2022
See all related articles

Memory deficits in alcoholics improve with abstinence. Long-term abstinent alcoholics show no significant memory differences compared to controls, suggesting recovery is possible.

Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Psychology

Background:

  • Alcohol use disorder is often associated with cognitive impairments, particularly memory deficits.
  • Subtle memory defects are believed to persist in many non-Korsakoff alcoholics.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate if memory impairments in alcoholics vary with length of abstinence (LOA).
  • To compare memory performance across different stages of abstinence and with nonalcoholic controls.

Main Methods:

  • Extensive memory testing was conducted on recently detoxified, intermediate-term abstinent, and long-term abstinent alcoholics, alongside nonalcoholic controls.
  • Subjects were matched for age, education, and years of alcoholic drinking.
  • Memory domains assessed included verbal learning/recall, visual learning/recall, and paired associate learning.

Related Experiment Videos

Main Results:

  • A significant relationship was found between visual learning and length of abstinence.
  • A significant interaction between age and length of abstinence was observed for visual recall.
  • Long-term abstinent alcoholics did not differ significantly from controls on any memory measures.

Conclusions:

  • Memory disturbances observed in recently detoxified alcoholics are not apparent in long-term abstinent individuals.
  • These findings suggest that memory function can recover with sustained abstinence from alcohol.