Genuine Episodic Memory Deficits and Executive Dysfunctions in Alcoholic Subjects Early in Abstinence

Abstract

At alcohol treatment entry, alcoholic patients present genuine episodic memory deficits that cannot be regarded solely as the consequences of executive dysfunctions. These results are in accordance with neuroimaging findings showing hippocampal atrophy. Moreover, given the involvement of episodic memory and executive functions in alcohol treatment, these data could have clinical implications.

Flashbulb memories for Paris attacks in an alcohol-abstinent patient

“…Thus, flashbulb memories seem to trigger extensive reliving in alcohol-abstinent patients, at least in our participant. This is of relevance as subjective reliving of autobiographical memory has been found to be compromised in alcohol-dependence [18,47,48].…”

“…Autobiographical overgenerality in alcohol-dependence can be linked with compromise of the subjective reliving of memories. This compromise was observed by Pitel, Beaunieux [18] who used the Remember/Know paradigm [19] in recently detoxified alcoholic participants. Participants had to provide a "Remember" response if they remembered the specific episode in which items were previously encountered with the impression of reliving some of the details.…”

Change in Neurocognition in People with Co-occurring Alcohol Misuse and Depression: 12-Month Follow-up

“…Cognitive deficits can be shown to predate the onset of clinical symptoms in some conditions [7][8][9] and even predict course and prognosis. Hazardous use of alcohol has been associated with impairments in memory, attention, executive functions, impulsivity, verbal fluency and visuospatial functioning [10][11][12][13][14][15][16]. However, there are conflicting findings regarding the longitudinal pattern of cognitive deficits after entering a phase of abstinence.…”

Proteomic Approaches and Identification of Novel Therapeutic Targets for Alcoholism

“…During adolescence the brain continues to undergo critical developmental changes, and alcohol abuse can induce particularly adverse neural and cognitive changes. Adolescents are typically more susceptible to alcohol-induced memory impairment, and hippocampal damage has a crucial role in these memory dysfunctions (Pitel et al, 2007). Accordingly, adolescent rats have been shown to display greater impairment in spatial memory acquisition and longer memory performance deficits than adult rats under the influence of alcohol (Sircar and Sircar, 2005;White et al, 2000).…”