title: Effects of cues on memory in alcoholics and controls.
abstract: This study was conducted to determine whether alcoholics' memory difficulties are due, in part, to access (retrieval) or to availability (retention) deficits. Forty-four alcoholics (n = 20 females) and 44 controls (n = 22 females) learned a paired associate list consisting of 12 adjective-CCC trigram pairs. Half of the subjects in each group learned the list to a low degree of learning (DOL; 4/12 pairs); the remainder to a high DOL (8/12 pairs). Two distinct environmental contexts (providing implicit cues) were used during acquisition. Subjects then completed a cued recall (an explicit cue) test in either the same or a different room. Alcoholics were significantly inferior in the acquisition phase on trials required to reach criterion, regardless of DOL required [F(1,68) = 10.92, p = 0.002]. The main effect for implicit cuing was not significant; similarly, there were no significant interactions. In contrast, the explicit cue manipulation produced a significant group x DOL interaction on the number of trigrams correctly recalled [F = (1,77) = 6.38, p = 0.01]; alcoholics' recall did not benefit from the higher DOL in contrast to a significant improvement in recall by controls. The failure of alcoholics to demonstrate improvement with higher levels of learning is consistent with a deficit in the availability of information. The results confirm previous reports of recovering alcoholics' verbal learning and memory dysfunction, and suggest that these deficits may be attributed, in part, to a deficit in the availability of information (retention).
authors.affiliation: University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, USA.
authors.forename: S J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Nixon
authors.forename: R D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Tivis
authors.forename: M R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Jenkins
authors.forename: O A
authors.initials: OA
authors.lastname: Parsons
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000425:Alcohol Amnestic Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation; D003463:Cues; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall; D008875:Middle Aged; D010153:Paired-Associate Learning; D012153:Retention, Psychology