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Effect of Alcohol on Encoding and Consolidation of Memory for Alcohol‐Related Images
Author(s) -
Weafer Jessica,
Gallo David A.,
Wit Harriet
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
alcoholism: clinical and experimental research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.267
H-Index - 153
eISSN - 1530-0277
pISSN - 0145-6008
DOI - 10.1111/acer.13103
Subject(s) - alcohol , psychology , stimulant , memory consolidation , encoding (memory) , ethanol , audiology , affect (linguistics) , placebo , developmental psychology , cognitive psychology , medicine , psychiatry , neuroscience , communication , hippocampus , biochemistry , chemistry , alternative medicine , organic chemistry , pathology
Background Drug and alcohol abusers develop strong memories for drug‐related stimuli. Preclinical studies suggest that such memories are a result of drug actions on reward pathways, which facilitate learning about drug‐related stimuli. However, few controlled studies have investigated how drugs affect memory for drug‐related stimuli in humans. Methods The current study examined the direct effect of alcohol on memory for images of alcohol‐related or neutral beverages. Participants received alcohol (0.8 g/kg) either before viewing visual images (encoding condition; n = 20) or immediately after viewing them (consolidation condition; n = 20). A third group received placebo both before and after viewing the images (control condition; n = 19). Memory retrieval was tested exactly 48 hours later, in a drug‐free state. Results Alcohol impaired memory in the encoding condition and enhanced memory in the consolidation condition, but these effects did not differ for alcohol‐related and neutral beverage stimuli. However, in the encoding condition, participants who experienced greater alcohol‐induced stimulation exhibited better memory for alcohol‐related, but not neutral beverage stimuli. Conclusions These findings suggest that individual differences in sensitivity to the positive, rewarding effects of alcohol are associated with greater propensity to remember alcohol‐related stimuli encountered while intoxicated. As such, stimulant responders may form stronger memory associations with alcohol‐related stimuli, which might then influence their drinking behavior.