Orienting reaction habituation in chronic alcoholics

A polygraphic study on resistance to habituation of the somatic (EMG), autonomic (finger plethysmogram, galvanic skin reaction, respiration) and EEG (acoustic-evoked potential and EEG-blocking reaction) components of the orienting reaction elicited by a repetitive auditory stimulus was performed in 67 chronic alcoholics and in 70 matched normal subjects (control group). The study showed a significantly lower resistance to habituation of the orienting reaction in alcoholics than in normal control subjects. The severity of this habituation disturbance depended on the patients’ age, type of alcoholism, alcohol consumption intensity and chronicity, as well as the type of resting EEG.     

Olfactory function in chronic alcoholics.

8 patients participating in an outpatient program for chronic alcohol abuse and 8 age-matched controls were tested for olfactory function. There was a significant difference between the two groups on a match-to-sample test using uncommon odors but not on a smell identification test using common odors. Ability to detect and identify common odors does not appear to be impaired by chronic alcohol abuse. Deficits on the odor-matching task may be related to difficulty in encoding olfactory information rather than a primary olfactory deficit.     

Retention of orienting reaction habituation in chronic alcoholics

A polygraphic study on resistance to habituation of the somatic (EMG), autonomic (finger plethysmogram, galvanic skin reaction, respiration) and EEG (acoustic-evoked potential and EEG-blocking reaction) components of the orienting reaction, elicited by a repetitive auditory stimulus during successive (weekly) sessions was performed in 67 chronic alcoholics and in 70 matched normal subjects (control group). The study showed significant retention disturbances of orienting reaction habituation (i.e., of learning), or the “saving” of stimulations, achieved from one session to the other to obtain the habituation criterion, the savings being less in alcoholics than in control subjects. The severity of habituation retention disturbances depended on patients’ ages, types of alcoholism, alcohol consumption intensity and chronicity, as well as the type of resting EEG.     

Short-term effects of behaviour therapy and hospital treatment of chronic alcoholics

Conditioning therapies, including electro-aversion treatment, of advanced states of alcoholism have not yielded an impressive record. There are probably several reasons for this state of affairs. Many studies have neglected the concurrent training of socially acceptable behaviour in the place of heavy drinking (Sobell and Sobell, 1972), and few studies have taught patients' relaxation or other anxiety-relieving methods (Blake, 1965). It may also be that treatment attempts have focused on conditioning fear or disgust to drinking stimuli themselves rather than covert, cognitive associations to various drinking situations (Claesson and Malm, 1973). The elements of electro-aversion therapy of alcoholism are little known and a number of problems remain to be investigated (Rachman and Teasdale, 1969; Hallam and Rachman, 1972). Among these problems are: how do we account for the different effects of electro-aversion therapy for different clients? How long-lasting are the effects of electro-aversion therapy?     

Conceptual and perceptual priming and dissociation in chronic posttraumatic stress disorder

Cognitive models of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) assert that memory processes play a significant role in PTSD (see e.g., Ehlers & Clark, 2000). Intrusive reexperiencing in PTSD has been linked to perceptual processing of trauma-related material with a corresponding hypothesized lack of conceptual processing. In an experimental study that included clinical participants with and without PTSD (N = 50), perceptual priming and conceptual priming for trauma-related, general threat, and neutral words were investigated in a population with chronic trauma-induced complaints as a result of the Troubles in Northern Ireland. The study used a new version of the word-stem completion task (Michael, Ehlers, & Halligan, 2005) and a word-cue association task. It also assessed the role of dissociation in threat processing. Further evidence of enhanced perceptual priming in PTSD for trauma stimuli was found, along with evidence of lack of conceptual priming for such stimuli. Furthermore, this pattern of priming for trauma-related words was associated with PTSD severity, and state dissociation and PTSD group made significant contributions to predicting perceptual priming for trauma words. The findings shed light on the importance of state dissociation in trauma-related information processing and posttraumatic symptoms.     

An experimental analysis of aversive imagery versus electrical aversive conditioning in the treatment of chronic alcoholics

A series of three experiments is described comparing an aversive imagery and an electrical escape conditioning procedure in the treatment of chronic alcoholics. Treatment effects were objectively measured by recording subjects' alcohol consumption in a semi-naturalistic laboratory setting. In contrast to conventional group outcome studies, the use of single-subject methodology provided a fine-grained analysis of individual response patterns. The aversive imagery and escape conditioning methods did not differ from each other, and were relatively ineffective in suppressing alcohol intake. In contrast, a punishment procedure in which shock was contingent on drinking did effectively suppress drinking. The data suggest that alcoholics can control their drinking by self-administered shock. The implications for the analysis and treatment of alcoholics are discussed.     

Task shifting in dual-task settings

When a participant is asked to perform two tasks in alternation, their mean reaction times were slower than when they performed the same tasks repeatedly. This "shift cost" has been hypothesized to reflect the time course of a single central executive that exerts control over thought and actions in task shifting. This study attempted to test this hypothesis using dual-task methodology. Participants were asked to carry out both a subtracting task and a rule-shifting task simultaneously. The main interest is to examine the effect of dual task on the magnitude of shift cost. The results showed that performing a concurrent subtracting task significantly interfered with the shifting operation resulting in over-additive time cost for shifting of task set. We further suggest that such interference may arise from the competition between activations of various rules.     

The course of restitution of learning and concentrating ability in chronic alcoholics in the 1st year of abstinence

Aim of our investigation was the analysis of the performances of chronic alcoholics under abstinence. 3 groups of 30 alcoholics were investigated after 3 weeks, 3 months and one year and compared with a group of control (n = 30). The most essential results: Strong increase in the first 3 month, after only slow increase. The level of healthy population has been attained nearly but not complete. The restitution is independent of the age and sex but significant dependent to the type of drinking (gamma- and deltadrinker). This results are important for the occupational rehabilitation of alcoholics after therapy.     

Longitudinal electromyography findings in abstinent alcoholics

Polyneuropathies by long term alcohol dependent Patients are characterized by "axonal" and "demyelinized" type. By abstinence we found a diminution of symptoms.     

Drinking practices among black and white alcoholics and alcoholics of different personality types

In order to examine the effects that race and personality type have on self-reported drinking practices, samples of 49 White and 49 Black male alcoholics were matched on age and education, and classified into two personality types according to MMPI scores. The results of multivariate and univariate analyses of variance yielded significant main effects. White alcoholics reported a greater: (a) use of alcohol for symptomatic relief of psychological distress, (b) loss of motor control and tendency to engage in destructive acts, and (c) daily consumption of beverage alcohol than Black alcoholics. Alcoholics with psychiatric-appearing MMPI profiles reported greater: (a) social benefits of alcohol use, (b) alcohol use for symptomatic relief of psychological distress, and (c) perceptual distortions associated with alcohol withdrawal than alcoholics with characterlogical-appearing MMPIs. Results were discussed in terms of need to control confounding effects of biosocial variables in cross-cultural research and implications that these effects may have on the generalizability of alcoholic personality typologies.