Activation peaking in intoxicated and detoxified alcoholics during visuospatial learning

Physiologic activation response patterning, termed activation peaking, and visuospatial learning performance were examined to understand the effects of chronic alcohol use on complex information processing. A total of 18 alcoholic male inpatients in an alcoholism treatment unit served as participants. Nine persons were seen while intoxicated (mean blood alcohol level [BAL] = 18.0mg/dl) at time of admission to the unit. The second group of nine persons were seen detoxified after 4 weeks in the treatment unit (BAL = 0 mg/dl). Skin conductance and heart rate were measured before and during learning. Learning consisted of a paired-associate paradigm requiring participants to learn the distinct spatial positions of six randomly presented "nonsense" shapes. The visuospatial learning of the intoxicated alcoholics was superior to that of the detoxified alcoholics. The physiological patterning of intoxicated alcoholics clearly and correctly tracked their learning performance, while the detoxified alcoholics displayed no clear pattern. The results indicated that the detoxified alcoholic may suffer a disruption in attentional mechanisms related to visuospatial information processing, providing support for theory that alcohol ingestion may serve to balance information processing in the alcoholic.