COGNITIVE EFFICIENCY IN ALCOHOLICS AND POLYSUBSTANCE ABUSERS

Previous studies have found alcoholics to be impaired on tests of cogn itive efficiency. However, his unclear to what extent individuals who abuse drugs in addition to alcohol exhibit similar deficits. To answer this question, 63 healthy control subjects were compared with 40 Indi viduals who abused alcohol only, 24 Individuals who abused alcohol and stimulants, 16 individuals who abused alcohol and marijuana, and 41 i ndividuals who abused alcohol and depressants/narcotics, or alcohol an d two or more other drugs, All subjects were administered tests of sho rt-term memory, spatial orientation, visual-spatial perception, and pr oblem-solving. Results from the study indicated that control subjects and Individuals who abused both alcohol and marijuana performed signif icantly better than the other groups an most tests. These results were not attributable to differences on measures of affect or chronicity o f alcohol consumption.