The frontal lobe hypothesis: impairment of executive cognitive functions in chronic alcohol in-patients.

OBJECTIVES: Previous research has found that recently detoxicated alcoholics show impairments in executive cognitive functions, supporting the frontal lobe hypothesis. The study is testing the hypothesis that participants with alcohol dependence syndrome will show impairments in cognitive flexibility, planning and problem solving, ability to learn and information processing speed. METHOD: The performance of twenty-eight participants with alcohol dependence syndrome was compared to controls using three neuropsychological tests (Stroop colour and word test, Tower of London, Wisconsin card sorting test) sensitive to executive cognitive functions. RESULTS: The alcoholics were found to be impaired in almost every executive cognitive function measured. Compared to controls, they showed impairments in cognitive flexibility, information processing speed, planning and problem solving. No significant differences were found regarding ability to learn. CONCLUSION: Present findings confirm the frontal lobe hypothesis and are consistent with the results of previous studies that revealed significantly impaired executive cognitive functions in recently detoxicated alcoholics.