Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-g7gxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-11T14:41:49.090Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Vocabulary deficit and abstraction impairment in hospitalized alcoholics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

Ronald J. Draper  and
Angela Manning
Ronald J. Draper*
Affiliation:
St Patrick's Hospital, Dublin
Angela Manning
Affiliation:
St Patrick's Hospital, Dublin
*
1Address for correspondence: Dr R. J. Draper, St Patrick's Hospital, PO Box 136, James's Street, Dublin 8, Eire.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Synopsis

The use of a standard intelligence test for detecting cognitive impairment has been re-examined in a cohort of 506 hospitalized alcoholics. The value of Vocabulary scores as indicators of original intelligence was tested by formulating the hypothesis that Vocabulary scores would remain constant despite increasing degrees of alcohol-induced cerebral dysfunction. Subjects were assigned to non-dysfunctional, minimal, moderate and severe dysfunctional groups on the basis of psychometric testing and their Wechsler Vocabulary scores categorized as either ‘abstract’, ‘concrete’ or ‘wrong’. Significant linear deficits in Vocabulary score and loss of abstract ability correlated with increasing dysfunction, irrespective of age but with greater frequency in females.

Type
Research Article
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 12 , Issue 2 , May 1982 , pp. 341 - 347
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1982

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Benton, A. L. (1975). General intelligence and dementia. In Comprehensive Textbook of Psychiatry (ed. Freedman, A. M., Kaplan, H. I. and Sadock, B. J.), pp. 758–760. Williams and Wilkins: Baltimore.Google Scholar
Claeson, L. E. & Carlsson, C. (1970). Cerebral dysfunction in alcoholics; A psychometric investigation. Quarterly Journal of Studies in Alcoholism 31, 317–323.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Clarke, J. & Haughton, H. (1975). A study of intellectual impairment and recovery rates in heavy drinkers in Ireland. British Journal of Psychiatry 126, 178–184.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Draper, R. J. (1978). The extent of alcoholic brain damage in the Republic of Ireland. Journal of the Irish Medical Association 71 (10),356–359.Google ScholarPubMed
Heaton, R. K., Baade, L. E. & Johnson, K. L. (1978). Neurophysiological test results associated with psychiatric disorders in adults. Psychological Bulletin 85 (1), 141–162.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hulicka, I. N. (1966). Age differences in Wechsler Memory Scale scores. Journal of Genetic Psychology 109, 135–145.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kleinknecht, R. & Goldstein, S. (1972). Neurophysiological deficits associated with alcoholism. Quarterly Journal of Studies in Alcoholism 33 (4), 999–1019.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lezak, M. D. (1976). Neuropsychological Assessment. pp. 172–254. Oxford University Press: New York.Google Scholar
Marrow, R. S. & Mark, J. C. (1955). The correlation of intelligence and neurological findings on twenty-two patients autopsied for brain damage. Journal of Consulting Psychology 19 (4), 283–289.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Matarazzo, J. D. (1972). Wechsler's Measurement and Appraisal of Adult Intelligence (5th edn). Waverly: Baltimore.Google Scholar
McFie, J. (1975). Assessment of Organic Intellectual Impairment, pp. 1–12. Academic Press: London.Google Scholar
McLaughlin, E. J., Faillace, L. A. & Overall, J. E. (1979). Alcohol studies: cognitive states and changes during 28 day hospitalisation. Current Trends in Alcoholism 5, 269–283.Google Scholar
Overall, J. E., Hoffman, N. G. & Levin, H. (1978). Effects of ageing, organicity, alcoholism and functional psychopathology on WAIS sub-test profiles. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 46 (6), 1315–1322.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reilly, D. H. & Sugerman, A. A. (1967). Conceptual complexity and psychological differentiation in alcoholics. Journal of Neurological and Mental Disorders 144 (11), 14–17.Google ScholarPubMed
Ron, M. A. (1977). Brain damage in chronic alcoholism: a neuropathological, neuroradiological and psychological review. Psychological Medicine 7, 103–112.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schepers, J. M. (1972). The assessment of brain damage from a psychometric point of view. Forensic Science 1, 269–311.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Spreen, O. & Benton, A. L. (1965). Comparative studies of some psychological tests for cerebral damage. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 140 (5), 323–333.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tarter, R. E. (1975). Psychological deficit in chronic alcoholics: a review. International Journal of Addiction 10 (2), 327–368.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tarter, R. E. (1980). Brain damage in chronic alcoholics: a review of the psychological evidence. In Addiction and Brain Damage (ed. Richter, D.), pp. 267–297. Croom Helm: London.Google Scholar
Wechsler, D. (1955). Manualfor the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, pp. 63–75. The Psychological Association: New York.Google Scholar