“…Chronic heavy alcohol use in humans has been associated with differences in neuroanatomy and brain physiology as well as deficits of perception, learning and memory (Oscar-Berman M, 1997, George et al, 2001, Agartz et al, 2003, Harper et al, 2003, Pfefferbaum et al, 2009, Spreckelmeyer et al, 2011). While cognitive function is generally thought to improve in adult humans after extended abstinence from alcohol (Rosenbloom et al, 2004, Fein et al, 2006, Kopera et al, 2012), some cognitive deficits appear to persist after the cessation of alcohol consumption [see (Fein et al, 1990) for review] and the extent of any recovery may be related to age, length of abstinence and whether periods of abstinence were interrupted by alcohol consumption (Rourke and Grant, 1999, Munro et al, 2000, Zinn et al, 2004).…”