Cognitive training in alcoholic men.

Abstract

Will cognitive training ameliorate cognitive deficits in alcoholics? Three groups of alcoholic subjects (n = 76) and one group of community nonalcoholic control subjects (n = 36) were tested using a baseline battery of three clusters of neuropsychological tests measuring learning and memory, problem-solving, and perceptual-motor functioning. Alcoholics were divided into three groups: One group (n = 25) received 12 hr of memory training over the subsequent 2-week period; a second group (n = 26) received a similar period of training in problem-solving techniques; and a third group (n = 25) received no training during the 2-week period. Approximately 3 weeks after the baseline testing, the same tests were readministered to the three groups. All three alcoholic groups performed significantly poorer than the control group on all three clusters of baseline tests but did not differ from each other on those clusters. At retest, the problem-solving group improved significantly more on the problem-solving tests than did the no-training group and manifested a trend to differ from the memory group but did not improve more than the other groups on memory or perceptual-motor tests. Although there was no overall differential improvement on memory tests by the memorytraining group, younger subjects in that group improved significantly more than older subjects. This relation was not present in the other groups.

Neurocognitive Defects and Their Impact on Substance Abuse Treatment

“…Both strategies were effective in improving paired-associate learning. Yohman, Schaeffer, and Parsons (1988) used cognitive training approaches to effectively ameliorate cognitive deficits in alcoholics and were able to dramatically improve their performance on problem-solving and perceptual tasks. Thus, impaired patients may benefit from cognitive rehabilitation to dispel the dysfunction associated with the toxicity of psychoactive substances, thereby enhancing the efficacy of conventional treatment.…”

Working memory, fluid intelligence, and science learning

“…There have been extensive studies on how to improve memory capacity, especially for senior people (Ericsson, 2003;Floyd & Scogin, 1997;Klingberg et al, 2005;Yohman, Schaeffer, & Parsons, 1988). These studies vary in the target construct they tried to improve and the way the participants were trained.…”

“…These studies vary in the target construct they tried to improve and the way the participants were trained. Some studies examined how to improve general memory in daily life by teaching memory strategies such as rehearsal, information chunking, visual imagery, and verbal mediation strategies (Turley-Ames & Whitfield, 2003;Yohman et al, 1988). Ericsson and co-workers demonstrated that extensive practice on memorizing and training on the use of memory strategies could substantially improve ordinary people's memory, however, the improvement was limited to the special type of information used in the training (Chase & Ericsson, 1982;Ericsson & Delaney, 1999;Ericsson & Kintsch, 1995).…”

Cognitive recovery following alcohol detoxification: A computerised remediation study

“…Some of these studies support the efficacy of cognitive remediation (e.g., Forsberg & Goldman, 1988;Steinglass et al, 1994), while others do not (e.g., Godfrey & Knight, 1985;Hannon et al, 1989;Yohman, Schaeffer, & Parsons, 1988). Experimental confounds such as using the same task for both remediation and assessment of cognitive recovery, limited remediation stimuli, and utilisation of neuropsychological tests not designed for serial administration may account for the lack of consistency between these studies.…”