Activation of alcohol expectancies in memory in relation to limb of the blood alcohol curve.

Attempts to understand the mechanism by which alcohol expectancies might influence drinking have related activation of expectancies in memory to alcohol use. Limb of the blood alcohol curve, however, has not been considered. In the present study, 527 undergraduates completed the Anticipated Biphasic Alcohol Effects Scale and a drinking measure. Multidimensional scaling was used to map expectancies into memory network format, and likely activation of expectancies was empirically modeled. Heavier drinkers were most likely to activate positive and arousing expectancies associated with the ascending limb, whereas lighter drinkers were most likely to activate negative and sedating expectancies associated with the descending limb. These findings add to the literature suggesting that activation of expectancies in memory may be an important determinant of drinking behavior and a promising target for intervention strategies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of stress on perceived intoxication and the blood alcohol curve in men and women.

To determine the influence of stress on intoxication and blood alcohol concentration (BAC) 60 healthy male and female volunteers were exposed to a cold pressor test, distressing film, or control condition after consuming a moderate dose of alcohol. Two measures of perceived intoxication suggested a sobering effect of acute stressors. In addition, Ss viewing the distressing film showed longer latency to peak BAC than Ss in the control condition. As BAC began to fall, the cold pressor test initially increased rate of alcohol elimination. These stress-induced changes in intoxication and the BAC curve support a biobehavioral model in which stress may increase alcohol use partly because it attenuates alcohol's psychopharmacological impact. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effect of height in the picture plane on the forward displacement of ascending and descending targets.

The effect of height in the picture plane on the remembered location of ascending or descending targets was examined in 14 college students. Consistent with previous research, memory was displaced forward in the direction of motion. The magnitude of forward displacement was larger for targets low in the picture plane than for targets high in the picture plane, and this was observed with ascending motion and with descending motion. This pattern is consistent with the hypothesis that memory for the location of ascending or descending targets is biased by the effects of implied gravitational attraction on the velocity of those targets, and some implications of such a bias for issues in mental representation are noted. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Memory for faces: Evidence of retrieval-based impairment.

Investigated whether and how interpolated faces cause impairment to memories for related target faces. In 4 exps, Ss viewed target faces and then saw a presentation of interpolated faces that were related to some of the targets. Modified tests, which offered target and novel faces as recognition alternatives, detected impairment effects after short retention intervals but not after 48-hr intervals, indicating that spontaneous recovery had occurred. For the interpolated presentations, some Ss were misled to believe that the faces were the same as the targets, and other Ss were informed that the faces were similar but different. The impairment and recovery effects were not moderated by Ss' beliefs about the interpolated faces. The recovery effects suggest that interpolated faces affected the retrieval but not the storage of memories for targets, even for Ss who were successfully misled about the interpolated faces. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Ultrastructural differences between rat inner medullary descending and ascending vasa recta;

The ultrastructure of rat inner medullary vasa recta was studied by both conventional transmission and freeze-fracture electron microscopy. The identify of descending and ascending vasa recta in the inner medulla was established by tracing outer medullary descending vasa recta and ascending vasa recta into the inner medulla, as well as by the incomplete carbon labeling technique to identify isolated descending vessels or loops. As in the outer medulla, descending vessels possess thick continuous endothelium with pinocytotic vesicles budding off the luminal and basal plasma membranes (more numerous in the latter location), but no fenestrae. Ascending vasa show thin, attenuated endothelium with numerous (500 to 800 A fenestrae bridged by 40 A thick fenestral diaphragms. Intercellular junctions in both vessels are zonulae occludens with usually one, and uncommonly two or three zones of outer leaflet membrane fusion. Intramembranous particles are numerous in endothelial plasma membranes of descending vasa recta; similar particles are much fewer in corresponding ascending vasa recta endothelial plasma membranes. The ultrastructural differences between descending vasa recta and ascending vasa recta may reflect markedly different permeability properties, particularly to macromolecules, and may be relevant to recent functional studies on rat inner medullary vasa recta.     

Memory impairment in monkeys following lesions limited to the hippocampus.

Investigated the degree of memory impairment produced by a lesion limited to the hippocampus in 13 cynomolgus monkeys (Macaca fascicularis) with circumscribed hippocampal lesions who were tested on the delayed-nonmatching-to-sample task, a test of recognition memory that is sensitive to amnesia in humans. Ss were given no preoperative training and were given no postoperative experience prior to training on the task. A marked deficit was observed. The results, taken together with those from previous studies, also provide information about the role of factors that could potentially influence the level of memory impairment following hippocampal lesions. The level of impairment does not appear to be due to any of the following factors: time of testing after surgery, prior postoperative testing, surgical techniques, species differences, or behavioral training methods. However, preoperative training experience does appear to reduce the severity of the impairment, and this factor may account for the observation that the memory impairment associated with hippocampal lesions is sometimes mild. A recent case of human amnesia is discussed in which a bilateral lesion limited to a portion of the hippocampus produced a well-documented memory deficit. (27 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reliability and validity of a demand curve measure of alcohol reinforcement.

Recent clinical research suggests that several self-report behavioral economic measures of relative reinforcing efficacy (RRE) may show utility as indices of substance abuse problem severity. The goal of the present study was to evaluate the reliability and validity of the Alcohol Purchase Task (APT), a RRE measure that uses hypothetical choices regarding alcohol purchases at varying prices (demand curves) to generate several indices of alcohol-related reinforcement. Participants were 38 college students who reported recent alcohol consumption. Both the raw alcohol purchase/consumption values and several of the computed reinforcement parameters (intensity & Omax) showed good to excellent 2-week test–retest reliability. Reinforcement parameters derived from both a linear-elasticity (Hursh, Raslear, Bauman, & Black, 1989) and an exponential (Hursh & Silberberg, 2008) demand curve equation were generally less reliable, despite the fact that both equations provided a good fit to participants’ reported consumption data. The APT measures of demand intensity (number of drinks consumed when price = 0), Omax (maximum expenditure), and elasticity (α) were correlated with weekly drinking, alcohol-related problems, and other self-report RRE measures (relative discretionary monetary expenditures toward alcohol and/or relative substance-related activity participation and enjoyment). Demand intensity was uniquely associated with problem drinking in a regression model that controlled for weekly consumption. These results provide support for the reliability and validity of the RRE indices generated with the APT. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Are a blood alcohol concentration of 256mg/dl and minimal signs of impairment reliable indications of alcohol dependence?

This article describes a drunk-driving scenario where a woman was apprehended for driving under the influence (DUI) with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 256mg/dl. The correctness of this result was vigorously challenged by a medical expert witness for the defence, who was actually a specialist in alcohol diseases. Despite reanalysis to confirm the BAC as well as a DNA profile to prove the identity of the blood specimen, the woman was acquitted of the charge of drunk driving by the lower court. However, she was subsequently found guilty in the High Court of Appeals with a unanimous decision and sentenced to four weeks imprisonment. This case report illustrates some of the problems surrounding the use of expert medical evidence by the defence to challenge the validity of the prosecution evidence based solely on a suspect's BAC. In situations such as these, an expert witness should be called by the prosecution to clarify and, if necessary, rebut medical and/or scientific opinions that might mislead the court and influence the outcome of the trial.     

Memory accessibility and association of alcohol use and its positive outcomes.

Theoretical predictions involving memory associations between alcohol use and its positive outcomes were examined. In 2 preliminary studies, the availability from memory of outcomes from drinking was investigated. In subsequent studies, a measurement paradigm was used that decreased the accessibility of the association between drinking behavior and positive outcomes so that individual differences in drinking frequency might predict the accessibility of memory responses. In a final study, this paradigm was refined further by manipulating various types of alcohol-related cues. The results converge on a class of theory of memory association in which repeated drinking experiences influence the accessibility of thoughts about alcohol use and its most normatively frequent outcomes. The increased association of this behavior and its outcomes in memory has important implications for the cognitive mediation of alcohol use and abuse. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Memory impairment in multiple sclerosis: A quantitative review.

To assess the nature and magnitude of memory impairment in multiple sclerosis (MS), the authors analyzed quantitatively 36 studies comparing the memory performance of MS participants to healthy controls. The authors studied (a) the pattern of impairment across short-term memory (STM), working memory (WM), and long-term memory (LTM); (b) the moderating influence of retrieval support on LTM impairment; (c) the covariation of WM and LTM impairment; and (d) the moderating influence of clinical characteristics of the MS sample on memory impairment. The analyses revealed significant impairment across all memory domains and failed to support a retrieval-based account of LTM dysfunction in MS patients. In addition, robust associations were found between clinical features of MS and memory impairment. The findings suggest a more global pattern of memory deficits in MS than has been previously believed, with deficits clearly associated with neurological disability and disease course. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Memory impairment on a delayed non-matching-to-position task after lesions of the perirhinal cortex in the rat.

Previous research conducted in monkeys and rats has established that the perirhinal cortex is critically involved in object- or stimulus-recognition memory, whereas other research suggests this region may contribute to memory for object discriminations. These findings do not rule out the possibility that the perirhinal cortex plays a more general role in memory. The present experiment addressed whether selective lesions of the perirhinal cortex would result in a delay-dependent deficit on a test of memory that did not involve stimulus recognition or object memory. Rats with bilateral perirhinal lesions were tested on a delayed non-matching-to-position task. Lesions of the perirhinal cortex did not interfere with acquisition or performance at short (0–4 s)-delay intervals, but lesions did impair performance at longer delays. It is suggested that the perirhinal cortex is involved in maintaining representations of trial-specific information over time. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

pICln predominantly localizes at luminal surface membranes of distal tubules and Henle''s ascending limbs

We produced a highly specific antibody to the C-terminal peptide sequence of pICln. It recognized pICln with a 38-kDa molecular mass on SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, coinciding with that previously reported. During native polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, three immunoreactive bands (38, 70, and 130 kDa) were detected. The isoelectric point of pICln was calculated to be 4.0. Subcellular localization study showed the presence of pICln in the soluble and microsomal fraction. pICln can be easily solubilized from the membrane fraction with Triton X-100. From immunohistochemical observations, we found pICln to be obviously located on the luminal surface membranes of the distal tubules and Henle's loop ascending limbs, and it can also be found inside proximal tubular cells. The present results suggested that pICln functions as a "cytosolic anchor = membrane insertion" model, and it plays important roles in the "urine dilution segment" cells of nephrons.     

Memory association and ambiguous cues in models of alcohol and marijuana use.

In parallel models of memory and expectancy theory, memory associations between drug-related cues and drug use may have motivational implications. This study examined whether these types of memory associations can be considered both a product and a predictor of alcohol and marijuana use consistent with a motivational model of drug use memory association. Results from a diverse college sample indicated that participants' memory associations to ambiguous cues were significantly related to alcohol and marijuana use independent of a number of possible correlates of these variables (e.g., family history of alcohol use acculturation and friends' drug use). The analytical models showed that these relationships held whether memory association was analyzed as a predictor or as a product of drug use. The results were consistent with the view that memory association is related to drug use through a parallel memory process akin to R. C. Bolles's (1972) concept of expectancy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Memory activation and expectancy as prospective predictors of alcohol and marijuana use.

This study examined whether indicators of drug-related memory associations predicted drug use prospectively. The predictive effects of outcome expectancies, sensation seeking, and other variables also were investigated. The results revealed that the memory association measures significantly predicted subsequent drug use. Outcome expectancies and sensation seeking predicted alcohol use, but not marijuana use. The findings suggest 2 possibly different aspects of cognition involved in drug use motivation: (a) a memory activation or implicit cognition component, representing the effects of memory associations that are prompted relatively spontaneously by the prevailing motivational and situational circumstances and (b) an outcome expectancy component, which is more likely to reflect explicit cognitions involved in introspection and deliberate decision-making processes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Behavioral effects of alcohol in novice and experienced drinkers: alcohol expectancies and impairment

The possibility was examined that mutational events at the glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase locus can be delayed for significantly more than one or two cell divisions following treatment of Chinese hamster cells with UV light. To detect these later mutant events, the proportion of G6PD-mutant cells in a colony was obtained by replating cells from a single colony 5-7 days after UV irradiation and staining the resulting colonies for G6PD activity. Eight colonies out of a total of 1657 colonies from the treated population yielded G6PD-negative colonies upon replating, while no mutant clones were obtained from 947 colonies grown from untreated cells. One clone contained only mutant cells suggesting that the mutation occurred before the first cell division after irradiation. A second clone contained a 1:1 ratio of mutant to wild-type cells suggesting that the mutation occurred at the first cell division. The remaining six clones contained low numbers of mutant cells and the ratio of mutant to wild-type cells in these clones was in agreement with the theoretical ratios expected for mutations occurring at the fourth (1:13), sixth (1:63), seventh (1:127), eighth (1:255), ninth (1:511), and eleventh (1:2047) cell division after UV light exposure. G6PD-mutant cells deficient in staining activity were isolated from five clones and all have significant reductions in G6PD activity confirming the genetically stable character of these mutants. These results support the conclusion that UV light induces mutants for up to 11 cell generations after treatment of mammalian cells and suggest that mutagens can induce in mammalian DNA long-term alterations which act to increase the apparently spontaneous mutation frequency.     

Memory for gist and detail information in Alzheimer's disease and mild cognitive impairment.

Two experiments examined different forms of gist and detail memory in people with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and those with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (MCI). In Experiment 1, 14 AD, 14 MCI, and 22 control participants were assessed with the Deese-Roediger-McDermott paradigm. Results indicated that false recognition of nonstudied critical lures (gist memory) was diminished in the AD compared with the MCI and control groups; the two latter cohorts performed similarly. In Experiment 2, 14 AD, 20 MCI, and 26 control participants were tested on a text memory task. Results revealed that recall of both macropropositions (gist information) and micropropositions (detail information) decreased significantly in AD and in MCI as compared with control participants. This experiment also revealed that the impairment was comparable between gist and detail memory. In summary, the results were consistent across experiments in the AD but not in the MCI participants. The discrepancy in MCI participants might be explained by differences in the degree of sensitivity of the experimental procedures and/or by the differences in the cognitive processes these procedures assessed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Neurocognitive impairment associated with alcohol use disorders: Implications for treatment.

Between 50% and 80% of individuals with alcohol use disorders experience mild to severe neurocognitive impairment. There is a strong clinical rationale that neurocognitive impairment is an important source of individual difference affecting many aspects of addiction treatment, but empirical tests of the direct influence of impairment on treatment outcome have yielded weak and inconsistent results. The authors address the schism between applied-theoretical perspectives and research evidence by suggesting alternative conceptual models of the relationship between neurocognitive impairment and addiction treatment outcome. Methods to promote neurocognitive recovery and ways in which addiction treatments may be modified to improve psychosocial adaptation are suggested. Specific suggestions for future research that may help clarify the complex relations between neurocognitive impairment and addiction treatment are outlined. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Resistance to cognitive impairment under alcohol: The role of environmental consequences.

This study showed that cognitive impairment under alcohol is affected by environmental factors. Forty male social drinkers were randomly assigned to 4 groups. Participants practiced a task that measured their rate of information processing. Three groups then performed the task under a moderate dose of alcohol (0.62 g/kg) and received either an immediate informative monetary consequence (Ml); a delayed uninformative monetary consequence (M); or no consequence (N) for maintaining their unimpaired processing rate. A control group (C) performed the task without alcohol or any consequence for performance. The processing rates of Groups M and N were slower (i.e. impaired) under alcohol than those of Group C. In contrast, Group MI displayed no significant reduction in processing rate under alcohol (i.e. no impaired). Resistance to the impairing effects of alcohol on information processing is enhanced by a rewarding consequence that conveys information about the adequacy of performance under the drug. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)