Recollective experience in alcohol dependence: a laboratory study

Aims Alcohol dependence has been linked to dysfunction of fronto‐temporo‐striatal circuits which mediate memory and executive function. The present study aimed to explore the specificity of recognition memory changes in alcohol dependence. Design, setting and participants Twenty hospitalized alcohol‐dependent detoxified patients and 20 healthy control subjects completed a verbal list discrimination task. Measurements Hits and false alarm rates were analysed. Additionally, both the dual process signal detection model (DPSD) and the process dissociation procedure (PDP) were used to derive estimates of the contribution of recollection and familiarity processes to the recognition memory performance in patients and controls. Findings Alcohol‐dependent patients showed intact hit rates, but increased false alarm rates and an impaired ability to remember the learning context. Both the DPSD model and PDP estimates yielded significantly reduced recollection estimates in the alcohol‐dependent compared to control subjects. Whether or not familiarity was impaired, depended upon the sensitivity of the estimation procedure. Conclusion Taken together, the result pattern suggests a significant impairment in recollection and mild familiarity changes in recently detoxified, predominantly male, alcohol‐dependent subjects.