Verbal working memory in HIV-seropositive drug users.
Recent evidence suggests that HIV-seropositive drug users are impaired on tasks of visuospatial working memory compared with drug users seronegative for HIV. In the current study we evaluated the performance of 30 HIV-seropositive male drug users and 30 risk-matched seronegative controls on two measures of verbal working memory, the Listening Span and the verbal Self Ordered Pointing Task. Impaired working memory performance was significantly more common among HIV-seropositive persons compared to controls, with the highest incidence of deficit among symptomatic participants. These findings indicate that working memory deficits in persons with HIV are not domain-specific and can be demonstrated reliably in drug users.
Farinpour
R
R
VA Chicago Health Care System-West Side Division, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
Martin
E M
EM
Seidenberg
M
M
Pitrak
D L
DL
Pursell
K J
KJ
Mullane
K M
KM
Novak
R M
RM
Harrow
M
M
D000328:Adult; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D006679:HIV Seropositivity / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000502:physiology*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D014706:Verbal Learning / Q000502:physiology*