[Elaboration of a conditioned reflex in chronic alcoholics using an unrecognizable motivationally significant word]

20 patients suffering from chronic alcoholism and 10 healthy, righthanded persons with normal sight were examined. Alcoholics were trained to elaborate a temporary connection by means of unrecognized significant word "vodka" related to their dominant motivation. The amplitude of the late positive response P300 was greater and its latency was shorter comparing with responses to neutral words. The latency of P300 potential to a conditioned stimulus combined with the word "vodka" is reduced in all recorded areas, especially in the left occipital zone. Healthy persons did not manifest this facilitation. The amplitude of the potential considerably decreased in all recorded areas (occipital, parieto-temporo-occipital and central) especially in the left hemisphere. Conditioned changes of the P300 wave during conditioning by means of the unrecognized stimulus are stable and do not extinct despite multiple signal presentations without pairing with the significant word. The formation of conditioned connections by means of unrecognized stimulus in patients suffering from chronic alcoholism suggests that a certain role in psychical dependence upon alcohol may be played by unrecognized stimuli.