Did Working Memory and Inhibition Recover Together During Alcohol Detoxification?
Improvement on one cognitive task does not tell you how all other abilities changed. Petit and colleagues tested five cognitive functions twice during a supervised alcohol detoxification program.
What changed between assessments
The researchers assessed 41 inpatients and 41 matched controls. The patient assessments occurred on the first and eighteenth days of abstinence. Patients initially performed worse on working-memory and inhibition measures. By the second assessment their average working-memory performance was comparable to the controls, while the investigators did not observe comparable recovery on inhibition. The two tasks measured different abilities.
What one assessment can tell you
When reviewing a record, identify the task, the timing of testing and the circumstances that could have affected the result. Inpatient group averages do not supply a recovery date for an individual. They also do not answer questions about performance during a particular drive, interview or other event outside the study.
