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

The performance deficits of alcoholics on tests of learning and memory are typically attributed to cognitive impairment. This study tests an alternative hypothesis that the deficits are due to motivational impairment. A face-name learning and memory test was administered to 30 sober male nonalcoholic and 40 alcoholic subjects in a 2 x 2 [Group (alcoholic, nonalcoholic) x Monetary incentive (incentive, no incentive)] between-subjects design. The monetary incentive was made contingent upon performance. Alcoholics required significantly more trials to learn face-name pairs, and they recalled fewer face-name pairs at the delayed recall. Incentive subjects manifested a trend toward impairment on the trials-to-learn measure. However, there were no significant Group x Incentive interactions in learning or memory, or on a self-report questionnaire of subjective states (e.g., effort expended) experienced during the test. Thus, no evidence was found to support the impaired motivation hypothesis; the cognitive hypothesis remains as the most credible hypothesis to account for the performance deficits of alcoholics.