Abstract
Aim
To assess objectively prospective memory (PM) performance of individuals with alcohol dependence and determine whether the use of an imagery technique at the point of encoding can enhance their performance.
Design
An independent group design was used to compare individuals with alcohol dependence with social drinkers.
Setting
One UK residential substance misuse service.
Participants
Twenty-four abstinent ‘individuals with alcohol dependence’ and 24 social drinkers matched on age, gender and years of education.
Measurements
The virtual week (VW); story recall; a category fluency task; trail-making test (TMT); a single digit cancellation task (SDCT); spot-the-word; State–Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI); Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II); and the Severity of Alcohol Dependence Questionnaire (SAD-Q)
Findings
Event-based PM task performance of individuals with alcohol dependence was associated strongly with indices of alcohol usage (P < 0.001), and was impaired significantly compared to that of social drinkers (P < 0.001). Imagining improved social drinkers' time-based PM but not that of individuals with alcohol dependence.
Conclusions
Individuals with alcohol dependence may experience prospective memory deficits which may be due to difficulties with effective strategy application.
To assess objectively prospective memory (PM) performance of individuals with alcohol dependence and determine whether the use of an imagery technique at the point of encoding can enhance their performance.
Design
An independent group design was used to compare individuals with alcohol dependence with social drinkers.
Setting
One UK residential substance misuse service.
Participants
Twenty-four abstinent ‘individuals with alcohol dependence’ and 24 social drinkers matched on age, gender and years of education.
Measurements
The virtual week (VW); story recall; a category fluency task; trail-making test (TMT); a single digit cancellation task (SDCT); spot-the-word; State–Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI); Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II); and the Severity of Alcohol Dependence Questionnaire (SAD-Q)
Findings
Event-based PM task performance of individuals with alcohol dependence was associated strongly with indices of alcohol usage (P < 0.001), and was impaired significantly compared to that of social drinkers (P < 0.001). Imagining improved social drinkers' time-based PM but not that of individuals with alcohol dependence.
Conclusions
Individuals with alcohol dependence may experience prospective memory deficits which may be due to difficulties with effective strategy application.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1809-1816 |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| Journal | Addiction |
| Volume | 107 |
| Issue number | 10 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Oct 2012 |
Keywords
- Alcohol dependence
- Event-based
- Future simulation
- Imagining
- Prospective memory
- Social drinkers
- Time-based
