MEMORY IN CHRONIC ALCOHOLICS. EFFECTS OF INCONSISTENT VERSUS CONSISTENT INFORMATION

Alcoholics and controls were compared on their resistance to misleading information given after a witnessed event. The eyewitness testimony paradigm of Loftus, Miller, and Buren ("Semantic Integration of Verbal Information in a Visual Memory", Journal of Experimental Psychology; Human Learning and Memory, Vol 4, pp 19-31, 1978) was used, which is a naturalistic variation of a retroactive interference paradigm. Alcoholics did not show greater suggestibility than the controls, being no more 'fooled' by the misleading, after-the-fact information. In contrast, alcoholics did show significant impairment in discriminating correct from among incorrect verbal statements about the accident. Thus, certain aspects of memory functioning may be preserved even while others are compromised as a result of chronic alcohol abuse.

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/03064603
• Corporate Authors:

  Pergamon Press, Incorporated

  Maxwell House, Fairview Park
  Elmsford, NY  United States  10523
• Authors:
  • Ober, B A
  • Stillman, R C
• Publication Date: 1988

Media Info

• Pagination: p. 11-15
• Serial:
  • Addictive Behaviors
  • Volume: 13
  • Issue Number: 1
  • Publisher: Elsevier
  • ISSN: 0306-4603
  • Serial URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/03064603

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Alcoholic beverages; Alcoholism; Memory; Witnesses
• Subject Areas: Highways; Safety and Human Factors; I83: Accidents and the Human Factor;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00493916
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Apr 30 1990 12:00AM