VISUOSPATIAL PERCEPTION, CONSTRUCTION AND MEMORY IN ALCOHOLISM

Objective: To analyze visuospatial cognition in recently detoxified al coholics from the perspectives of three ways of conceptualizing spatia l information processing: egocentric versus allocentric orientation, f eatural versus configural analysis, and categorical versus coordinate spatial judgments. Method: Twenty-eight chronic alcoholics (19 men, 9 women) were compared to 20 (10 men, 10 women) controls of comparable a ge and education on a battery of tests of visuospatial scanning, const ruction, mental imagery, and anterograde and remote spatial memory. Te sts were administered 21-40 days after alcoholics entered treatment. R esults: Alcoholics displayed impairment in visuospatial scanning, cont ruction, utilizing and manipulating information from visual images and on three tests of anterograde spatial memory, but remote spatial memo ry was not significantly affected. Their deficits were evident on some measures of allocentric orientation, featural and configural analysis , but consistent deficits on egocentric orientation or categorical or coordinate spatial judgments were not seen. Conclusions: Deficits in s patial cognition exhibited by alcoholics do not seem to arise from dys function in any localized brain region. Small but potentially importan t impairments in fundamental aspects of spatial information processing such as scanning and use of visual imagery were found. The empirical basis and clinical significance of these deficits requires further stu dy.