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Assessment of cognitive functioning in poly-substance abusers.

J A Sweeney1, L Meisel, V L Walsh

  • 1Cornell University Medical College, New York, New York.

Journal of Clinical Psychology
|March 1, 1989
PubMed
Summary

Verbal abstraction skills remain intact in individuals with substance use disorders. The Similarities test may better reflect premorbid intelligence than the Vocabulary test in poly-substance abusers.

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Area of Science:

  • Neuropsychology
  • Cognitive Science
  • Addiction Research

Background:

  • Substance abuse is linked to cognitive impairments, particularly in memory and spatial perception.
  • Verbal abstraction, a cognitive function often reduced in diffuse cerebral disorders, has not been extensively studied in substance abusers.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To assess the extent of verbal abstraction impairment in substance abusers.
  • To determine if verbal abstraction is preserved despite other cognitive deficits in this population.

Main Methods:

  • Two large samples of consecutively admitted substance-abusing patients (n=100 each) were evaluated.
  • Performance on the Similarities and Vocabulary subtests of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) and WAIS-Revised (WAIS-R) was analyzed.

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Main Results:

  • In both samples, patients scored higher on the Similarities test than on the Vocabulary test.
  • This finding held true even in a second sample exhibiting memory and psychomotor speed impairments.
  • Verbal abstraction was found to be unimpaired in both large samples of poly-substance abusers.

Conclusions:

  • Verbal abstraction abilities appear to be preserved in individuals with poly-substance use disorders.
  • The Similarities test may serve as a more reliable indicator of premorbid intellectual functioning than the Vocabulary test in this population.