ASSOCIATION LEARNING AND RECOGNITION MEMORY IN ALCOHOLIC KORSAKOFF PATIENTS

Association learning and recognition memory were examined in 8 male al coholic Korsakoff patients (mean age 58), and in the following 4 group s of 10 men: non-Korsakoff alcoholics (mean age 59), nonalcoholic cont rols (mean age 64), younger alcoholics (mean age 36), and nonalcoholic controls (mean age 37). The tasks were modeled after those used for t esting memory functioning in nonhuman primates. Association learning, defined as the ability to distinguish rewarded from equally familiar n onrewarded visual stimuli, was impaired in Korsakoff patients. Korsako ff patients also were impaired on recognition memory-the ability to di scriminate familiar from novel items. Results support the view of loss of multiple memory functions in alcoholic amnesia. An effect of aging was indicated by differences in performance levels between younger an d older groups of non-Korsakoff participants, although the latter were superior to the Korsakoff patients.