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Friday, November 7, 2008

Recollective experience in alcohol dependence: a laboratory study
Addiction Volume 103 Issue 12, Pages 1969 - 1978


Alcohol dependence has been linked to dysfunction of fronto-temporo-striatal circuits which mediate memory and executive function. The present study aimed to explore the specificity of recognition memory changes in alcohol dependence.

Alcohol-dependent patients showed intact hit rates, but increased false alarm rates and an impaired ability to remember the learning context. Both the DPSD model and PDP estimates yielded significantly reduced recollection estimates in the alcohol-dependent compared to control subjects. Whether or not familiarity was impaired, depended upon the sensitivity of the estimation procedure.

Taken together, the result pattern suggests a significant impairment in recollection and mild familiarity changes in recently detoxified, predominantly male, alcohol-dependent subjects.

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