Cognitive impairment due to alcohol abuse: current status of research

Abstract

Alcohol abuse causes significant changes in cognitive functioning. These effects are related to the fact that ethanol and acetaldehyde, its first metabolite, affect the the brain’s neurotransmitter systems. Long-term abuse may lead to the dysexecutive syndrome (DES) exhibited through emotional, behavioral and cognitive symptoms. Alcohol has a specific dose-dependent effect on memory that serves as a block of memory consolidation, i.e. transition of the short-term memories to the long-term storage. This effect displays either as reversible amnesias of events from the alcohol abuse period (blackouts), or as an irreversible fixation amnesia within Korsakoff’s syndrome. Refs 34.