Effect of Alcohol on Encoding and Consolidation of Memory for Alcohol-Related Images

Abstract

Background Drug and alcohol abusers develop strong memories for drug-related stimuli. Preclinical studies suggest that such memories are a result of drug actions on reward pathways, which facilitate learning about drug-related stimuli. However, few controlled studies have investigated how drugs affect memory for drug-related stimuli in humans. Methods The current study examined the direct effect of alcohol on memory for images of alcohol-related or neutral beverages. Participants received alcohol (0.8 g/kg) either before viewing visual images (Encoding condition; n=20) or immediately after viewing them (Consolidation condition; n=20). A third group received placebo both before and after viewing the images (Control condition; n=19). Memory retrieval was tested exactly 48 hours later, in a drug-free state. Results Alcohol impaired memory in the Encoding condition and enhanced memory in the Consolidation condition, but these effects did not differ for alcohol-related and neutral beverage stimuli. However, in the Encoding condition, participants who experienced greater alcohol-induced stimulation exhibited better memory for alcohol-related, but not neutral-beverage stimuli. Conclusions These findings suggest that individual differences in sensitivity to the positive, rewarding effects of alcohol are associated with greater propensity to remember alcohol-related stimuli encountered while intoxicated. As such, stimulant responders may form stronger memory associations with alcohol-related stimuli, which might then influence their drinking behavior.

Alcohol and pharmacologically similar sedatives impair encoding and facilitate consolidation of both recollection and familiarity in episodic memory

“…Stimuli consisted of 144 images from the International Affective Picture Set (IAPS; Lang, Bradley, & Cuthbert, 2008) and 2–3 word labels (e.g., ‘angry man face,’ ‘sailboat on ocean’) describing these images, as well as 96 alcohol-related and non-alcoholic beverage-related images, data for which will not be reported here (see Weafer, Gallo, & de Wit, 2016b). The images included emotionally negative, neutral, and positive pictures and had the following mean normed valences and arousals, respectively: negative 2.95 and 5.66, neutral 5.31 and 3.71, positive 7.17 and 5.58.…”

Intranasal Oxytocin Does Not Modulate Responses to Alcohol in Social Drinkers

“…They were also instructed to refrain from alcohol and other recreational drugs for at least 24 hours prior to each study session. Women using hormonal contraceptives were tested at any time in their menstrual cycle, but those not using contraceptives (n=3) were tested only in the follicular phase to control for fluctuations in endogenous hormone levels (Miller et al, 2016; Weafer, Gallo, & de Wit, 2016).…”

Alcohol-induced retrograde facilitation renders witnesses of crime less suggestible to misinformation

“…That is intoxication reduces the formation of new memories thereby protecting already existing memories and making them less vulnerable to interference. Alcohol-induced retrograde facilitation has been demonstrated in previous studies using list of words, sentences, pictures and prose passages (Bruce and Pihl 1997 ; Moulton et al 2005 ; Parker et al 1980 ; Weafer et al 2016a , b ). Our findings demonstrate that alcohol-induced facilitation holds true for autobiographical memories in a misinformation eyewitness paradigm.…”

“…Similarly, Moulton et al ( 2005 ) found that although memory for prose learned while participants were intoxicated (mean peak BAC = .08%) was poor compared to sober controls, the opposite was found for prose learned prior to intoxication. The diphasic effect of alcohol on memory performance has been found with emotional (Bruce and Pihl 1997 ; M BAC = .06%), neutral, and alcohol-related stimuli (Weafer et al 2016a , b ; peak BAC = .08%). Thus, alcohol seems to impair subsequent recall of information encoded when intoxicated but facilitates recall of material encountered prior to intoxication due to minimizing general new memory formation (Wixted 2005 ).…”