Clinical observations have long implicated affective (""""""""emotional"""""""") and conative (""""""""motivational"""""""") changes in alcoholics. Recent accounts of alcoholic Korsakoff's syndrome have considered a possible relationship between the profound memory loss and disturbances in affect and conation. A primary aim of the proposed studies is to provide a detailed analysis of the nature and extent of affective and conative changes in chronic alcoholics, with and without the amnesia of Korsakoff's disease. Additionally, alcoholic patients may have neuropsychological symptoms that are presumed to be related to cerebral changes accompanying long-term intake of ethanol, but considerable evidence indicates that the pathology may be more appropriately related to normal chronological aging than to a history of chronic alcoholism. If the brain changes associated with normal aging are similar to those induced by ethanol consumption, behavioral parallels should be observed in alcoholics and chronologically older nonalcoholic controls. If the brain changes are different, behavioral manifestations of these differences should be apparent. Using procedures that are designed to tap specifically into emotional and motivational functions, the proposed research will examine the ways in which the behavioral consequences of aging and alcoholism are parallel, divergent, or interactive. The proposed experiments will employ male research participants ranging in age from 25 to 75 years, who have chronically abused alcohol. Age-matched normal subjects will be included as controls. Likewise, patients with right-hemisphere disease will provide the necessary control comparisons for emotional changes linked directly to brain damage. The experimental paradigms will measure aspects of (a) affective judgment and expression and (b) the association of reinforcement contingencies with polymodal stimulus parameters. It is expected that results of the proposed studies will show clear evidence of affective and conative changes in alcoholics (most notably in Korsakoffs), but that these changes will not be conspicuous in geriatric populations uncomplicated by alcoholism. By contrast, certain aspects of perceptual functioning will be compromised by aging, whether or not a history of alcohol abuse exists.
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