Neuropsychological Differences between Male Familial and Nonfamilial Alcoholics and Nonalcoholics

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Abstract
The hypothesis was tested that neuropsychological differences exist between males who have an alcoholic parent, sister, or brother (FH+) versus those who do not (FH-). Neuropsychological tests measuring verbal, learning/memory, abstracting/problem solving, and perceptual-motor performance were given to four groups of middle-aged subjects: alcoholic FH+ (n= 41); alcoholic FH- (n= 27); nonalcoholic FH+ (n= 19); and nonalcoholic FH- (n= 43). FH+ subjects performed significantly poorer than FH- subjects on the abstracting/ problem solving and perceptual-motor tasks, and approached significance on the verbal and teaming/memory measures. Alcoholics performed more poorly than nonalcoholics on abstracting/problem solving and learning/memory tasks. There were no groups by family history significant interactions. From these results we suggest (1) a performance deficit in abstracting/problem solving and possibly learning/memory may antedate the alcoholic stage in FH+ individuals; (2) alcoholism and positive famiry history of alcoholism have independent, additive deleterious effects on cognitive-perceptual functioning; and (3) future neuropsychological studies of alcoholism should consider the frequency of FH+ and FH- individuals in both alcoholic and control groups.

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