Few studies have investigated how drugs affect learning or memory for drug-associated stimuli in humans. This study examined the direct effects of alcohol on memory for images of alcohol-related beverages, such as beer bottles or liquor glasses, or neutral beverages, such as water bottles or soda cans, in social drinkers.<\/p>\n Researchers assigned subjects to one of three conditions:<\/strong> one group (n=20) received an intoxicating dose of alcohol (0.8 g\/kg) before viewing visual images, called the Encoding condition; a second group (n=20) received the same amount of alcohol immediately after viewing them, called the Consolidation condition. A third group (n=19) received a placebo both before and after viewing the images, called the Control condition. Memory retrieval was tested exactly 48 hours later, in a drug-free state.<\/p>\n Results indicate that alcohol impairs memory in the Encoding condition and enhances memory in the Consolidation condition. However, individual differences in sensitivity to alcohol’s positive rewarding effects are associated with a greater tendency to remember alcohol-related environmental stimuli encountered while intoxicated<\/strong>. In other words, these individuals may form stronger memory associations with alcohol-related stimuli, which may then strengthen their drinking behavior and\/or place them at a greater risk of relapse if they decide to stop drinking.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" From the Research Society on Alcoholism\u00a0media release: Drug-cue associations can have a powerful influence over individuals with drug and alcohol use disorders, often leading to relapse in those attempting to… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[350,4,60,347],"tags":[185,245,37,98,62],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18821"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18821"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18821\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19139,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18821\/revisions\/19139"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18821"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"alcohol](\"http:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/alcohol-bottles.jpg\")
Drug-cue associations can have a powerful influence over individuals with drug and alcohol use disorders<\/strong>, often leading to relapse in those attempting to stay abstinent.<\/p>\n