Auditory sensory memory as indicated by mismatch negativity in chronic alcoholism

Objectives: A pre-conscious auditory sensory (echoic) memory of about 10 s duration can be studied with the event-related brain potential mismatch neg ativity (MMN). Previous work indicates that this memory is preserved in abs tinent chronic alcoholics for a duration of up to 2 s. The authors' aim was to determine the integrity of auditory sensory memory as indexed by MMN in chronic alcoholism, when this memory has to be functionally active for a l onger period of time. Methods: The presence of MMN for stimuli that differ in duration was tested at memory probe intervals (MPIs) of 0.4 and 5.0 s in 17 abstinent chronic alcoholic patients and in 17 healthy age-matched control subjects. Results: MMN was similar in alcoholics and controls when the MPI was 0.4 s, whereas MMN could not be observed in the patients when the MPI was increas ed to 5.0 a. Conclusions: These results provide evidence of an impairment of auditory se nsory memory in abstinent chronic alcoholics, whereas the automatic stimulu s-change detector mechanism, involved in MMN generation, is preserved. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.