Genuine Episodic Memory Deficits and Executive Dysfunctions in Alcoholic Subjects Early in AbstinenceAlcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research (OnlineEarly Articles).
20 May 2007
Chronic alcoholism is known to impair episodic memory function, but the specific nature of this impairment is still unclear. Moreover, it has never been established whether episodic memory deficit in alcoholism is an intrinsic memory deficit or whether it has an executive origin.
Thus, the objectives are to specify which episodic memory processes are impaired early in abstinence from alcohol and to determine whether they should be regarded as genuine memory deficits or rather as the indirect consequences of executive impairments.
At alcohol treatment entry, alcoholic patients present genuine episodic memory deficits that cannot be regarded solely as the consequences of executive dysfunctions. These results are in accordance with neuroimaging findings showing hippocampal atrophy.
Moreover, given the involvement of episodic memory and executive functions in alcohol treatment, these data could have clinical implications.
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