title: Dynamics of the cognitive procedural learning in alcoholics with Korsakoff's syndrome.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  While procedures acquired before the development of amnesia are likely to be preserved in alcoholic patients with Korsakoff's syndrome, the ability of Korsakoff patients (KS) to learn new cognitive procedures is called in question. According to the Adaptive Control of Thoughts model, learning a new cognitive procedure requires highly controlled processes in the initial cognitive phase, which may be difficult for KS with episodic and working memory deficits. The goals of the present study were to examine the learning dynamics of KS compared with uncomplicated alcoholic patients (AL) and control subjects (CS) and to determine the contribution of episodic and working memory abilities in cognitive procedural learning performance.
  
  
  METHODS
  Fourteen KS, 15 AL, and 15 CS were submitted to 40 trials (4 daily learning sessions) of the Tower of Toronto task (disk-transfer task similar to the tower of Hanoi task) as well as episodic and working memory tasks.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The 10 KS who were able to perform the cognitive procedural learning task obtained lower results than both CS and AL. The cognitive phase was longer in the Korsakoff's syndrome group than in the other 2 groups but did not differ between the 3 groups any more when episodic memory abilities were controlled.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results indicate that KS have impaired cognitive procedural learning abilities compared with both AL and CS. Episodic memory deficits observed in KS result in a delayed transition from the cognitive learning phase to more advanced learning phases and, as a consequence, in an absence of automation of the procedure within 40 trials.
authors.affiliation: INSERM U1077, UFR de Psychologie, Université de Caen/Basse-Normandie, Esplanade de la Paix, Caen Cedex, France. helene.beaunieux@unicaen.fr
authors.forename: Hélène
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Beaunieux
authors.forename: Anne L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Pitel
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Witkowski
authors.forename: François
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Vabret
authors.forename: Fausto
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Viader
authors.forename: Francis
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Eustache
mesh_terms: D000425:Alcohol Amnestic Disorder / Q000503:physiopathology*; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000503:physiopathology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D061212:Memory, Episodic; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000502:physiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests