Prospective memory impairments in heavy social drinkers are partially overcome by future event simulation.

Publisher: Springer-Verlag Country of Publication: Germany NLM ID: 7608025 Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1432-2072 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 00333158 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Psychopharmacology (Berl) Subsets: MEDLINE

Original Publication: Berlin, New York, Springer-Verlag.

Alcoholism/*psychology ; Alcoholism/*rehabilitation ; Memory Disorders/*chemically induced ; Memory Disorders/*psychology; Adult ; Affect/drug effects ; Attention/drug effects ; Executive Function/drug effects ; Female ; Humans ; Intelligence/drug effects ; Intelligence Tests ; Male ; Memory Disorders/rehabilitation ; Mental Recall/drug effects ; Neuropsychological Tests ; Psychomotor Performance/drug effects ; Substance-Related Disorders/complications ; User-Computer Interface ; Young Adult

Background: Recent research suggests that alcohol acutely impairs prospective memory (PM), and this impairment can be overcome using a strategy called 'future event simulation' (FES). Impairment in event-based PM found in detoxifying alcohol-dependent participants is reversed through FES. However, the impact of the most common problematic drinking patterns that do not involve alcohol dependence on PM remains unclear.
Aims: Here, we examine the impact of frequent heavy drinking on PM and the degree to which any impairments can be reversed through FES.
Methods: PM was assessed in 19 heavy drinkers (AUDIT scores ≥ 15) and 18 matched control participants (AUDIT scores ≤ 7) using the 'Virtual Week' task both at baseline and again following FES.
Results: Heavy drinkers performed significantly worse than controls on regular and irregular time-based PM tasks. FES improved the performance of controls but not of heavy drinkers on time-based tasks. In contrast, FES improved heavy drinkers' performance on event-based PM tasks.
Conclusions: These findings suggest that heavy drinkers experience deficits in strategic monitoring processing associated with time-based PM tasks which do not abate after FES. That the same strategy improves their event-based PM suggests that FES may be helpful for individuals with problematic drinking patterns in improving their prospective memory.

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Keywords: Alcohol; Alcohol use disorders; Future event simulation; Prospective memory

Date Created: 20151128 Date Completed: 20160829 Latest Revision: 20181202

20240628

PMC4710660

10.1007/s00213-015-4145-1

26612619