Cognitive Dysfunction in Alcoholics

The control group comprised healthy volunteers. Although a loose attempt was made to match controls with patients, for reasons of sampling it is not inconceivable that the two groups differed in basal cognitive capacity. Current research strategies in the field seek to match experimental and control groups on premorbid I.Q., assessed, for example, on a vocabulary task, or using a specific tool such as the New Adult Reading Test (Ron, 1983). Only when premorbid l.Q is controlled for, or covariated out, can conclusions be drawn about the effect of alcohol on the brain.