[en] Background: Many studies have shown that recently detoxified alcoholic persons perform poorly on tasks thought to be sensitive to frontal lobe damage, supporting the hypothesis that the frontal lobes are highly vulnerable to chronic alcohol consumption. However, it appeared that most of the executive tasks used in these studies also involved nonexecutive components, and these tasks had been shown to be impaired as a result of nonfrontal lobe lesions. In this study, we examined further the "frontal lobe vulnerability" hypothesis using executive tasks, proved to be associated with frontal lobe functioning, that allowed us to distinguish the relative importance of executive and nonexecutive processes. Method: Thirty recently detoxified asymptomatic male alcoholic inpatients and 30 control subjects were tested for planning, inhibition, rule detection, and coordination of dual task, as well as the speed of processing and nonexecutive functions (such as short-term memory storage). Results: Alcoholics performed worse than controls in almost all tasks assessing executive functions. However, they were not slower than the controls and showed normal results for nonexecutive functions. Conclusions: Chronic alcohol consumption seems to be associated with severe executive function deficits, which are still present after a protracted period of alcohol abstinence. These data support the idea that the cognitive deficits in recently detoxified sober alcoholic subjects are due, at least partly, to frontal lobe dysfunctioning.
Disciplines :
Neurosciences & behavior
Author, co-author :
Noël, Xavier; Université Libre de Bruxelles - ULB
Van der Linden, Martial ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département des sciences cognitives > Psychopathologie cognitive
Schmidt, Nicolas; Université Libre de Bruxelles - ULB
Sferrazza, Rita; Université Libre de Bruxelles - ULB
Hanak, Catherine; Université Libre de Bruxelles - ULB
Le Bon, Olivier; Université Libre de Bruxelles - ULB
De Mol, Jacques; Université Libre de Bruxelles - ULB
Kornreich, Charles; Université Libre de Bruxelles - ULB
Pelc, Isidore
Verbanck, Paul
Language :
English
Title :
Supervisory attentional system in nonamnesic alcoholic men
Rice D.P. (1999) Economic costs of substance abuse, 1995. Proc Assoc Am Physicians 111:119-125.
Kopelman M.D. (1995) The Korsakoff syndrome. Br J Psychiatry 166:67-85.
Porjesz B., Begleiter H. (1987) Evoked brain potentials and alcoholism. Neuropsychology of Alcoholism: Implications for Diagnosis and Treatment , Parsons OA, Butter N, Nathan P, eds. New York, NY: Guilford Press; 45-63.
Harper C., Kril J. (1985) Brain atrophy in chronic alcoholic patients: A quantative pathological study. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 48:211-217.
Risberg J., Berglund M. (1987) Cerebral blood flow and metabolism in alcoholics. Neuropsychology of Alcoholism: Implications for Diagnosis and Treatment , Parsons OA, Butter N, Nathan P, eds. New York, NY: Guilford Press; 64-75.
Gilman S., Adams K., Koeppe R.A., Berent S., Kluin K.F., Modell J.G., Kroll P., Brunberg J.A. (1990) Cerebellar and frontal hypometabolism in alcoholic cerebellar degeneration studies with positron emission tomography. Ann Neurol 28:775-785.
Knight R.G., Longmore B.E. (1994) Cognitive impairment in alcoholics. Clinical Neuropsychology of Alcoholism , Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence A Erlbaum Associates; 225-240.
Bertera J.H., Parsons O.A. (1978) Impaired visual search in alcoholics. Alcohol Clin Exp Res 2:9-14.
Ellis R.J., Oscar-Berman M. (1989) Alcoholism, aging, and functional cerebral asymmetries. Psychological Bull 106:128-147.
Ellis R.J. (1990) Dichotic asymmetries in aging and alcoholic subjects. Alcohol Clin Exp Res 14:863-871.
Tivis R., Beatty W.W., Nixon S.J., Parson O.A. (1995) Patterns of cognitive impairment among alcoholics: Are there subtypes?. Alcohol Clin Exp Res 19:496-500.
Oscar-Berman M. (1987) Neuropsychological consequences of alcohol abuse: Questions, hypotheses, and models. Neuropsychology of Alcoholism: Implications for Diagnosis and Treatment , Parsons OA, Butters N, Nathan PE, eds. New York, NY: Guilford Press; 59-79.
Harper C. (1998) The neuropathology of alcohol-specific brain damage, or does alcohol damage the brain?. J Neurolpathol Exp Neurol 57:101-110.
Tarter R.E. (1975) Psychological deficit in chronic alcoholics: A review. Int J Addict 10:327-368.
Kril J.J., Halliday G.M., Svoboda M.D., Cartwright H. (1997) The cerebral cortex is damaged in chronic alcoholics. Neuroscience 79:983-998.
Erbas B., Bekdik C., Erbengi G., Enunlu T., Aytac S., Kumbasar H., Dogan Y. (1992) Regional cerebral blood flow changes in chronic alcoholism using Tc-99m HMPAO SPECT: Comparison with CT parameters. Clin Nucl Med 17:123-127.
Gilman S., Adams K., Koeppe R.A., Berent S., Kluin K.F., Modell J.G., Kroll P., Brunberg J.A. (1990) Cerebellar and frontal hypometabolism in alcoholic cerebellar degeneration studies with positron emission tomography. Ann Neurol 28:775-785.
Adams K.M., Gilman S., Koeppe R.A., Kluin K.J., Brunberg J.A., Dede D., Berent S., Kroll P.D. (1993) Neuropsychological deficits are correlated with frontal hypometabolism in positron emission tomography studies of older alcoholic patients. Alcohol Clin Exp Res 17:205-210.
Dao-Castellana M.H., Samson Y., Legault F., Martinot J.L., Aubin H.J., Crouzel C., Feldman L., Barrucand D., Rancurel G., Féline A., Syrota A. (1998) Frontal dysfunction in neurologically normal chronic alcoholic subjects: Metabolic and neuropsychological findings. Psychol Med 28:1039-1048.
Nicolas J.M., Catafau A.M., Estruch R., Lomena F.J., Salamero M., Herranz R., Monforte R., Cardenal C., Urbano-Marquez A. (1993) Regional cerebral blood flow-SPECT in chronic alcoholism: Relation to neuropsychological testing. J Nucl Med 324:1452-1459.
Pishkin V., Lovallo W.R., Bourne L.E. Jr. (1985) Chronic alcoholism in males: Cognitive deficit as a function of age of onset, age and duration. Alcohol Clin Exp Res 9:400-406.
Parker E.S., Parker D.A., Harford T.C. (1991) Specifying the relationship between alcohol use and cognitive loss, the effects of consumption and psychological distress. J Stud Alcohol 52:366-373.
Smith M.E., Oscar-Berman M. (1992) Resource-limited information processing in alcoholism. J Stud Alcohol 53:514-518.
Sullivan E.V., Mathalon D.H., Zipursky R.B., Kersteen-Tucker Z., Knight R.T., Pfefferbaum A. (1993) Factors of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test as measures of frontal-lobe function in schizophrenia and in chronic alcoholism. Psychiatry Res 46:175-199.
Glenn S.W., Errico A.L., Parsons O.A., King A.C., Nixon S.J. (1993) The role of antisocial, affective, and childhood behavioral characteristics in alcoholics' neuropsychological performance. Alcohol Clin Exp Res 17:162-169.
Beatty W.W., Katzung V.M., Nixon S.J., Moreland V.J. (1993) Problem-solving deficits in alcoholics: Evident from the California Card Sorting Test. J Stud Alcohol 54:687-692.
Berman K.F., Ostrem J.L., Randolph C., Gold J., Goldberg T.E., Coppola R., Carson R.E., Herscovitch P., Weinberger D.R. (1995) Physiological activation of a cortical network during performance of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test: A positron emission tomography study. Neuropsychologia 33:1027-1046.
Burgess P.W. (1997) Theory and methodology in executive function research. Methodology of Frontal and Executive Function , Rabbit P, eds. Hove, England: Psychology Press;; 81-116.
Stuss D.T., Levine B., Alexander M.P., Hong J., Palumbo C., Hamer L., Murphy K.J., Izukawa D. (2000) Wisconsin Card Sorting Test performance in patients with focal frontal and posterior brain damage: Effects of lesion location and test structure on separable cognitive processes. Neuropsychologia 38:388-402.
Norman D.A., Shallice T. Attention to Action. Willed and Automatic Control Behavior, Berkley: University of California Press; Center for Human Information Processing Report No. 99; 1980.
Shallice T. (1994) Multiple levels of control processes. Attention and Performance, XV: Conscious and Nonconscious Information Processing , Umita C, Moscovitch M, eds. Cambridge, Mass: A Bradford Book/The MIT Press; 395-420.
Baddeley A.D. Working Memory, Clarendon Press, ed. Oxford, England: AD Baddeley; 1986.
Rapeli P., Service E., Salin P., Holopainen A. (1997) A dissociation between simple and complex span impairment in alcoholics. Memory 5:741-762.
Diagnostic and Statistical manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association; 1994.
Montgomery S.A., Asberg A. (1979) A new depression scale designed to be sensitive to change. Br J Psychiatry 134:382-389.
Spielberger C.D. (1993) State-Trait anxiety inventory. Manuel inventaire d anxiété Etat-Traitforme Y(STAI-Y), Paris, France: Les Editions du Centre de Psychologie Appliquée; .
Deltour J.J. Echelle de Vocabulaire Mill Hill de J.C.: Raven, Braine-le-Château, France: Edition l'Application des Techniques Modernes; 1993.
Spitzer R.L., William J.B.W. Stuctured Cinical Inerview for DSM-III-R (SCID), New York: Biometrics Research Dept, New York State Psychiatric Institute; 1985.
Belleville S., Rouleau N., Caza N. (1998) Effects of normal aging on the manipulation of information in working memory. Mem Cognit 26:572-583.
Shallice T. (1982) Specific impairments of planning. Philos Trans R Soc London B Biol Sci 298:199-209.
Burgess P.W., Shallice T. (1996) Response suppression, initiation and strategy use following frontal lobe lesions. Neuropsychologia 34:263-273.
Maulemans T., Steyaert M., Vincent E. (2001) Evaluation des dėficits d'inhibition chez les patients traumatisés crâniens à l'aide du test de Hayling. Poster presented at: Journées de Printemps from the Sociétè de Neuropsychologie de Langue Francaise, May 18-19, Lyon, France; .
Burgess P.W., Shallice T. (1996) Bizarre responses, rule detection and frontal lobe lesions. Cortex 32:241-259.
Milner B. (1964) Some effects of frontal lobectomy in man. Frontal Granular Cortex and Behavior , Warren JM, Akert K, eds. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Co; 313-331.
Reitan R.M. (1955) The relation of the Trail Making Test to organic brain damage. J Consult Psychology 10:330-340.
Eslinger P.J., Grattan L.M. (1993) Frontal lobe and frontal-striatal substrates for different forms of human cognitive flexibility. Neuropsychologia 31:17-28.
Grattan L.M., Eslinger P.F. (1989) Higher cognition and social behavior: Changes in cognitive flexibility and empathy alter cerebral lesions. Neuropsychology 3:175-186.
Stroop J.R. (1935) Studies of interference in serial verbal reactions. J Exp Psychol 18:643-662.
Perret E. (1974) The left frontal lobe of man and the suppression of habitual responses in verbal categorical behaviour. Neuropsychologia 12:323-330.
Joyce E.M., Robbins T.W. (1991) Frontal lobe function in Korsakoff and non-Korsakoff alcoholics: Planning and spatial working memory. Neuropsychologia 29:709-723.
Collette F., Van der Linden M., Delfiore G., Degueldre C., Luxen A., Salmon E. (2001) The functional anatomy of inhibition processes investigated with the Hayling task. Neuroimage 14:258-268.
Connelly S.L., Hasher L. (1993) Aging and inhibition of spatial location. J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform 19:1238-1250.
Collette F., Salmon E., Van der Linden M., Chicherio C., Belleville S., Degueldre C., Delfiore G., Franck G. (1999) Regional brain activity during tasks devoted to the central executive of working memory. Brain Res Cognit Brain Res 7:411-417.
Arria A.M., Tarter R.E., Kabene M.A., Laird S.B., Moss H., Van Thiel D.H. (1991) The role of cirrhosis in memory functioning of alcoholics. Alcohol Clin Exp Res 15:932-937.
Nixon S.J., Hallford H.G., Tivis R.D. (1996) Neurocognitive function in alcoholic, schizophrenic, and dually diagnosed patients. Psychiatry Res 64:35-45.
O'Mahony J.F., Doherty B. (1996) Intellectual impairment among recently abstinent alcohol abusers. Br J Clin Psychol (PART 1):77-83.
Stetter F., Ackermann K., Bizer A., Straube E.R., Mann K. (1995) Effects of disease-related cues in alcoholic inpatients: Results of a controlled "Alcohol Stroop" study. Alcohol Clin Exp Res 19:593-599.
Pilar A., Van der Linden M. (2000) Age-related differences in Supervisory Attentional System functions. J Gerontol Psychol Sci 55 B:373-380.
Birren J.E., Fisher L.M. (1995) Aging and speed of behavior: Possible consequences for psychological functioning. Annu Rev Psychol 46:329-353.
Salthouse T.A. (1996) The processing-speed theory of adult age differences in cognition. Psychol Rev 103:403-428.
Adams K.M., Grant I. (1986) Influence of premorbid risk factors on neuropsychological performance in alcoholics. J Clin Exp Neuropsychol 8:362-370.
Grant I., Adams K.M., Reed R. (1984) Aging, abstinence, and medical risk factors in the prediction of neuropsychologic deficit among long-term alcoholics. Arch Gen Psychiatry 41:710-718.
Tiffany S.T. (1990) A cognitive model of drug urges and drug-use behavior: Role of automatic and nonautomatic processes. Psychol Rev 97:147-168.
