Alcohol and state-dependent learning.

Abstract

This paper reviews several attempts to demonstrate state-dependent (St.D) effects from alcohol and reports a study in which the subject's state (sober or intoxicated) produces a 'dissociation' decrement in recall performance only when the drug state differed from that under which the original learning took place. Thirty-two subjects were used in a 2 x 2 design with moderate doses of alcohol (mean BAC = 81 mg/100 ml). In a second study, with 16 volunteers, alcohol was administered immediately after learning in order to distinguish between 'stimulus' and 'storage' hypotheses. Greater retention was found for those subjects whose drug states were the same in memory consolidation and retrieval. Thus, an alcohol state effective during the memory consolidation interval following acquisition appears to be a sufficient condition for producing St.D learning. In this context, St.D learning might be better termed state-dependent memory storage and retrieval. The implications of these results for the aetiology and treatment of alcohol dependence are discussed.