Impaired inhibition of proactive interference in abstinent individuals with alcoholism.
Cognitive impairment has been associated with higher risk of alcoholism and relapse. Recent theoretical refinements have separated inhibition of dominant response and inhibition of proactive interference. We assessed the latter using a directed-forgetting procedure in 38 recently detoxified individuals with alcoholism and in 26 controls. On this task, memory performance of letter trigrams was compared when presented alone, followed by a second trigram to be recalled, then a second trigram to be forgotten (directed-forgetting condition). Individuals with alcoholism recalled more letters to be forgotten and performed worse than controls in the directed-forgetting condition, which significantly correlated with the duration of alcoholism.
Noël
Xavier
X
Clinic of Addiction, CHU-Brugmann, Free University of Brussels, Brussels, Belgium. xnoel@ulb.ac.be
Billieux
Joël
J
Van der Linden
Martial
M
Dan
Bernard
B
Hanak
Catherine
C
de Bournonville
Stéphanie
S
Baurain
Céline
C
Verbanck
Paul
P
D000328:Adult; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000523:psychology* / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D001288:Attention; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000209:etiology*; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000502:physiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D011334:Proactive Inhibition; D011930:Reaction Time; D055815:Young Adult