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

Learning and memory test performance in alcoholics as a function of monetary incentive.

K W Schaeffer1, O A Parsons

  • 1Center for Alcohol and Drug Related Studies, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City 73104.

The International Journal of Neuroscience
|February 1, 1988
PubMed
Summary

Cognitive impairment, not motivation, explains alcoholics' learning and memory deficits. This study found no evidence that monetary incentives improved alcoholic performance, supporting the cognitive hypothesis.

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

Predicting cognitive performance in alcoholics and nonalcoholics: specification of affective, childhood behavior disorders, and antisocial variables.

Applied neuropsychology·2000
Same author

Neuropsychological deficits in sober alcoholics: influences of chronicity and recent alcohol consumption.

Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research·2000
Same author

Comments on tau protein levels in alcoholics.

Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research·1999
Same author

Effects of cues on memory in alcoholics and controls.

Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research·1998
Same author

Anger in an inpatient treatment sample of chronic alcoholics.

Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research·1998
Same author

Neurocognitive deficits in alcoholics and social drinkers: a continuum?

Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research·1998

Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Psychology
  • Addiction Research

Background:

  • Alcoholism is linked to performance deficits in learning and memory.
  • These deficits are often attributed to cognitive impairment.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate if motivational impairment, rather than cognitive impairment, underlies alcoholics' learning and memory deficits.
  • To test the hypothesis that monetary incentives can mitigate performance deficits in alcoholics.

Main Methods:

  • A face-name learning and memory test was administered to sober nonalcoholic and alcoholic male subjects.
  • A 2x2 between-subjects design was used, varying group (alcoholic, nonalcoholic) and monetary incentive (incentive, no incentive).
  • Monetary incentive was contingent upon performance.

Related Experiment Videos

Main Results:

  • Alcoholic subjects required significantly more trials to learn face-name pairs and exhibited poorer delayed recall compared to nonalcoholic subjects.
  • A trend towards impaired performance was observed in subjects receiving a monetary incentive on the trials-to-learn measure.
  • No significant interactions were found between group and incentive for learning, memory, or self-reported effort.

Conclusions:

  • The findings do not support the hypothesis of impaired motivation in alcoholics.
  • The results suggest that cognitive impairment remains the most plausible explanation for the learning and memory deficits observed in alcoholics.