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Published on: January 5, 2018
Recollective experience in alcohol dependence: a laboratory study
Patrizia Thoma1, Katharina Johann, Alfred Wähner
1Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Neuropsychology, Faculty of Psychology, Ruhr-University of Bochum, Bochum, Germany. patrizia.thoma@rub.de
Addiction (Abingdon, England)
|May 28, 2009
Summary
Alcohol dependence impairs recollection, a key memory process, and may mildly affect familiarity. This impacts recognition memory in detoxified individuals.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Psychology
- Addiction Research
Background:
- Alcohol dependence is associated with fronto-temporo-striatal circuit dysfunction.
- These circuits are crucial for memory and executive functions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the specific changes in recognition memory in alcohol dependence.
- To differentiate between recollection and familiarity deficits.
Main Methods:
- Compared 20 detoxified alcohol-dependent patients with 20 healthy controls.
- Utilized a verbal list discrimination task.
- Applied dual process signal detection (DPSD) and process dissociation procedure (PDP) models to estimate recollection and familiarity.
Main Results:
- Alcohol-dependent patients had intact hit rates but increased false alarms, indicating impaired context memory.
- Both DPSD and PDP models showed significantly reduced recollection in alcohol-dependent subjects.
- Familiarity impairment varied based on the estimation method.
Conclusions:
- Recently detoxified alcohol-dependent individuals exhibit significant recollection impairments.
- Mild changes in familiarity may also be present.
- Findings suggest specific recognition memory deficits in alcohol dependence.
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