© POSbase 2005

Artificial Grammar Learning in Alcohol Abuse

Pothos & Cox (2002) were interested in

whether alcohol abuse changes cognitive

processing of alcohol-related stimuli.

Contributor

They modified an artificial grammar learning

task, using a finite state grammar. Instead of

letters, they used either neutral words (e.g.,

Athens – Paris – Rome ) or sequences of

drinks (Gin – Wine – Whiskey).

© POSbase 2005

Artificial Grammar Learning in Alcohol Abuse

The question is whether heavy alcohol abuse

results in impaired learning of the sequences in

the grammar because focus on the meaning of

alcohol-related stimuli may interfere with

grammar learning.

Pothos & Chater (1998) showed that AGL

performance unaffected by such changes in

stimulus format.

© POSbase 2005

Artificial Grammar Learning in Alcohol Abuse

Participants had first to watch grammatical

sequences, either routes or drinks.

Then they got grammatical and ungrammatical

sequences and had to indicate whether the

sequence is regular or not.

Two groups of participants:

Light drinkers (around five units per week),

Heavy drinkers (around 23 units per week).

© POSbase 2005

Artificial Grammar Learning in Alcohol Abuse

Looking at grammatical items only, the hypothesis was supported:

Heavy drinkers showed a selective impairment on alcohol-related stimuli.

However, the interaction disappeared for overall performance. This pattern is not easy to explain.

© POSbase 2005

Artificial Grammar Learning in Alcohol Abuse

In conclusion, participants with a problem of

alcohol abuse showed an impairment in

artificial grammar learning for grammatical

items.

This finding is in line with demonstrations of

interference of alcohol-related stimuli in the

Alcohol Stroop Task (Johnsen et al., 1994;

Sharma et al., 2001).