Monitoring the source of memory in detoxified alcoholics.
The ability to monitor the source of remembered information and related reflective cognitive processes was examined in normal volunteers and detoxified alcoholics. Normal volunteers were very accurate judges of whether remembered events were presented as stimuli or were self-generated, even when memory was tested 2 days later. In contrast, a subgroup of otherwise cognitively unimpaired alcoholics demonstrated impairments in the ability to track the source of remembered knowledge and were also less able to inhibit intrusion errors in recalling information from memory. These findings provide preliminary evidence of an impairment in cognitive control functions in certain alcoholics. This conclusion is supported by associated findings indicating that, among alcoholics, performance on explicit memory tasks that required reflective cognitive operations were positively correlated with glucose utilization rates in left prefrontal, temporal, and posterior orbital frontal cortical regions.
Weingartner
H J
HJ
Section of Brain Electrophysiology and Imaging, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, Bethesda, MD 20892-1250, USA.
Andreason
P J
PJ
Hommer
D W
DW
Sirocco
K Y
KY
Rio
D E
DE
Ruttimann
U E
UE
Rawlings
R R
RR
Eckardt
M J
MJ
D000328:Adult; D000425:Alcohol Amnestic Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology; D001364:Awareness / Q000502:physiology; D001786:Blood Glucose / Q000378:metabolism; D004292:Dominance, Cerebral / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall / Q000502:physiology; D008875:Middle Aged; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology; D011936:Reality Testing; D012016:Reference Values; D012153:Retention, Psychology / Q000502:physiology; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000503:physiopathology; D014055:Tomography, Emission-Computed; D014706:Verbal Learning / Q000502:physiology
D001786:Blood Glucose