Neurocognitive Differences in Alcohol and Heroin Abusers
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Diana Fishbein, Ph.D.
Between 2003 and 2005, principal investigator and RTI Senior Fellow Diana Fishbein, Ph.D., and co-investigator Barbara Flannery, Ph.D., from the RTI Transdisciplinary Behavioral Science Program, collaborated with Russian investigators in St. Petersburg to study the neurocognitive differences in Russian alcohol- and heroin-dependent individuals.
The primary purpose of this study was to isolate potential differences in neurocognitive processes among individuals who abuse either alcohol or heroin. Unlike substance abusers in the U.S., Russian substance abusers typically abuse or are dependent on only one drug at a time.
The results of the investigation demonstrated that there are indeed differences in neurocognitive functioning among alcohol- and heroin-dependent individuals, with alcoholics sustaining greater deficits than heroin-dependent individuals who, in turn, performed more poorly than control subjects.
Furthermore, gender differences among alcoholic men and women in neurocognitive functioning were found; females performed more poorly on the neurocognitive tests than did the alcoholic men, despite drinking less and drinking for a shorter period of time. These findings extend prior research that revealed that women alcoholics experience a "telescoping" effect in which the physiological consequences of alcohol abuse occur more rapidly than they do for male alcoholics.
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