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Neuropsychological Performance of Young Nondrinkers, Social Drinkers, and Long‐ and Short‐Term Sober Alcoholics
Author(s) -
Emmerson R. Y.,
Dustman R. E.,
Heil J.,
Shearer D. E.
Publication year - 1988
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/j.1530-0277.1988.tb00254.x
Subject(s) - abstinence , psychology , neuropsychology , wechsler adult intelligence scale , subclinical infection , cognition , neuropsychological test , effects of sleep deprivation on cognitive performance , clinical psychology , chronic alcoholic , developmental psychology , psychiatry , medicine
Neuropsychological performance of 23–42‐year‐old males with diverse drinking histories was assessed. Comparisons were made among nondrinkers, social drinkers, short‐term sober (<30 days) alcoholics and long‐term sober (>30 days) alcoholics. Results of these comparisons provided little support for the notion that neurotoxic effects of chronic alcohol consumption are directly related to cognitive impairment. Instead, these results suggested that performance differences among the groups were more closely related to subclinical withdrawal symptoms or native ability than to long‐term alcohol consumption. Because none of the dependent measures was related to length of abstinence, and because Wechsler's Adult Intelligence Scale‐R Vocabulary differences among groups paralleled neuropsychological test performance differences, it is suggested that differences among groups may reflect differences in native ability. In addition, there were no differences between social drinkers and nondrinkers, nor were there any significant correlations among drinking variables and performance of social drinkers, providing further evidence against a direct relationship between alcohol consumption and cognitive performance.