Impairment of self-monitoring and vigilance in alcoholics

Self monitoring seems to depend on appropriate memory and attention processes. In chronic alcoholics these processes may be impaired due to neural pathology. Therefore, chronic alcoholics may be impaired in self-monitoring abilities. This hypothesis was tested using 19 chronic alcoholiagnc subjects matched for age, gender (16 males and 3 females), and socio-economic status with 19 non-alcoholic subjects. Two experimental tasks were (a) self-monitoring arm-lifting behaviour and (b) a VDU-based vigilance task, each with two levels of disction. Subjects responded via a hand-held push-button, and all data was automatically collected via computer. All subjects were assessed with the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test and the Austin Maze test prior to the experiment. The hypotheses were that alcoholics would be more impaired at both experimental tasks than controls, and that there would be a further impairment due to the effect of the higher level of distraction for the alcoholics. The main hypothesis received some support in that the alcoholics showed impairment on self-monitoring compared to controls, were poorer at self-monitoring than vigilance, and were further impaired during the higher distraction level. The control group however did not find the self-monitoring task more difficult than the vigilance task, although they were poorer on both tasks under the higher level of distraction. The alcoholic group was significantly impaired in performance of RAVLT and Austin Maze test compared to controls. Results are discussed in relation to possible memory and attention deficits and how these relate to pathology in various diencephalic regions. Methodological weaknesses in the experiment are discussed, an improved design is suggested, and clinical implications relating to remediation and recovery of function are examined in the light of recent research.