Impaired Decision-Making

The term working memory is also known as short term memory. The working memory stores a limited quantity of information that is being processed at that time. The working memory also organizes current mental activities (Matlin, 2013). Its abilities consist of keeping selected memories active and available for varying cognitive tasks (Matlin,

Chapter two also talks about how alcoholism affects the brain. Surprisingly, I learned that the brains of chronic heavy drinkers shrink, especially in the frontal cortex. The frontal cortex is accountable for prominent cognitive functions that deal with organizing and reasoning and in the cerebellum, which controls the way individual walks, balance and their form of learning. Individuals with long-term alcoholism damage their hippocampus, which is the brains nucleus form of learning, their memory, temper and the factory that provides the brain with new brain

Episodic memory, or personal life events, is affected in the earlier stages of AD. In the beginning, cognitive deficits do not begin showing symptoms in the patient (Vos, 2013). AD prevents those suffering from it to not be able to create or retain any new memories. AD can be linked to the semantic memory, or factual knowledge of an individual, that is stunted when influenced by AD. People with AD are not able to use facts or general knowledge such as connecting an object to a specific category or specifying simple associations. With procedural memory, or the storage for simple skills that become involuntary to an individual without thinking about it, AD impairs the patient’s ability to use this knowledge that they would have otherwise known. Finally, with working memory, a patient with AD is unable to process new memories. It is possible to recall older memories, but at one point, new memories are unable to be encoded. The primary functions of memory that are impacted the most in AD are the episodic memory and semantic memory, followed by procedural memory and working memory. These factors cause the brain to stop being functional to some extent, creating

Working Memory is STM. In contrast to the Multi-Store Model, where all the information goes to one single store (Unitary store), there are different systems for the different types of information. Working Memory consists of

Fingarette’s (1988) position is that no leading research authorities accept the disease concept of alcoholism (p.4). The experts say the disease concept is “old and biased”, a model whose suggestions are invalid. But, the basic text of Alcoholics Anonymous (2001) states that not only does alcoholism affect the mind, but the body as well (xxvi). In a letter written to Alcoholics Anonymous, Dr.William D.Silkworth, a well known chief physician at a nationally prominent hospital that specialized in treating alcoholism and drug addiction, state that “the action of alcohol on chronic alcoholics is a manifestation of an allergy called “the phenomenon of craving” (Alcoholics Anonymous,2001,p.xxviii). Some may believe that alcoholism is just a matter of self control or self will, but we have shown that it takes much more than the unaided will to arrest this sometimes fatal disease Many have suffered the effects of alcoholism and can attest to the fact that it is a disease. Some can remember drinking until passed out, the trouble they caused themselves and others while

An alcoholic beverage is a drink that contains a psychoactive drug ethanol, a depressant which in low doses causes euphoria, reduced anxiety, sociability which in higher doses could be caused by unconsciousness, lack of critical mental function and intoxication. Drinking alcoholic beverages is not a current event, the production, transportation and the distribution of alcohol were banned in the 1920s under the presidency of President Woodrow Wilson by the Eighteenth Amendment. This paper talks about the effects of excessive drinking of alcohol termed as alcohol dependence on the volume or size of the hippocampus of humans. The hippocampus is a small organ located in the temporal lobe. The hippocampus is an important part of the limbic system. The hippocampus is mainly associated with memory, mainly long-term memory which is important in the learning process.

MAIN POINTS/FINDINGS: The authors first looked at the premature aging hypothesis and its association with alcoholism. They reported that most studies found that as an individual ages the harmful neurological effects of alcohol become more pronounced and the brain is more susceptible to permanent damage or greater reduction in size of the cerebral cortex, corpus callosum, hippocampus, and cerebellum. There is also an association between neuropsychological and psychomotor deficits in older alcoholics. In terms of gender the review found evidence episodic memory tasks were performed better on by women across all varying degrees of drinking habits (non, light, moderate, and heavy) than men. Men performed better on visuospatial tasks, but only in the non and light drinker groups. fMRI data looking at gender differences in alcohol-related brain impairment showed inconsistent results and the authors suggested that further research is necessary in this area of study. Results of twin, family, and adoption studies showed that there are genetic risk factors that influence susceptibility to alcoholism, while

Working memory refers to one’s ability to complete immediate tasks through the use of short-term memory and precision to make actively conscious choices. This is especially important in one’s organizational ability, reasoning, and decision-making. Unfortunately, working memory is yet another function of your brain that only gets weaker as you age into your midlife years. If you’ve ever placed a soup can in the wrong cabinet drawer, or put on non-matching socks or shoes, then you know exactly what it feels like.

Baddeley (2001) suggests a working memory system which consists of four components; a modality-free central executive, a phonological loop which holds information in speech based form, a visuo-spatial sketchpad and an episodic buffer which is the temporary storage system that holds and integrates information from the phonological loop, visuo-spatial sketchpad and long-term memory (Eysenck & Keane, 2005).

Alcohol is best understood as a depressant that can distort the alcoholic’s judgment, and thinking ability (Stevens & Smith, 2013). When inebriated, a person may experience euphoria, and loss of self-consciousness. Alcohol impairs regions of the brain that controls behavior, judgment, memory, concentration and coordination (Stevens & Smith, 2013). In addition, excessive amount of alcohol can cause impaired vision, hearing, and motor skills (Stevens & Smith, 2013). The long term effects of drinking alcohol, can cause the brain cells to decrease. And subsequently, can lead to memory loss, confusion, learning inabilities, problems with attention, and brain

It can be seen that when a certain region is affected by alcohol, the brain will begin to rely on another region that is not typically related the function that it is now required to perform. This explains the reduced performance of alcoholics when compared to an age-matched control in tests for various cognitive abilities. (3) All of these tests show classic symptoms of an alcoholic dependent individual, but studies show that all of these impaired structures and abilities are not necessarily permanently damaged. Many studies have shown positive recovery to the tissue and function in the brain of individuals that maintain the abstinence of alcohol. (4) Alcoholism is a disease that is characteristic of affecting social and mental behaviour. It is important for society to understand the effects of alcohol on the brain so that there are more informed decisions being made about consumption. Recent and future studied are also equally important for clinicians, which will lead to better treatment and

Limitations with the study were identified with respect to retrospective self-report measures in the face of memory difficulties (impact of stress on the hippocampus). For cases of verified ACEs, adults were deemed likely to underestimate the occurrences of ACEs.. However, findings were supported by neurobiology and epidemiological studies

Drinking can cause a person to have a complete personality change and become violent or hostile after drinking. They may also become irritable or panicky during times when a drink is expected. An alcoholic may drink to the point of black out; this is where they don’t remember what they’ve done or said that happened during a bout of drinking. A definite red flag for alcoholism is when a person has to have to drink in the morning when they first wake up.

This essay addresses the working memory model which was proposed by Baddeley and Hitch (1974 in Smith & Kosslyn, 2007) as a response to Atkinson and Shiffrins (1968 in Smith, 2007) multi-store model. According to Baddely and Hitch the multi-store model failed to explain most of the complexities of the human memory and viewed it as being too simplistic. They argued that the short term memory store must have more components rather it being a single inflexible store as suggested previously by Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968). The working memory model is therefore an enhancement of the multi store model. According to Baddeley and Hitch working memory is a limited- capacity system that stores and processes information.

Alcohol impairs judgment, memory, concentration and coordination, as well as inducing extreme mood swings and emotional