2658 – Binge drinking and everyday prospective memory deficits

Abstract

Binge drinking (BD) has been associated with a range of memory deficits, including prospective memory (PM: remembering future intentions and activities) deficits in the past. However no research to date has distinguished between levels of BD. To compare heavy binge drinking with non-heavy BD and non-BD groups on objective PM. To compare varying levels of BD with non-BD upon everyday PM. An existing groups design was employed to compare a group of heavy BDs (drinking above 15 units per drinking session), with a group of standard BDs (drinking between 10 - 15 units per drinking session), and a group of non-BDs (drinking less than 5 units per session) on objective PM. The Prospective Remembering Video Procedure (PRVP) was used to assess PM, which required the participant to remember a series of actions (e.g. remember to buy “X”) when they reached specific locations (at the Phone Store) whilst viewing a CD Rom clip of a busy shopping high street. Age, other drug use and mood were also measured as covariates in the study. The Non-BD group recalled significantly more action-location combinations on the PRVP than both the ‘standard’ and ‘heavy BD groups, with no significant difference between the latter groups. This was found after controlling for important covariates. It appears that BD per se is associated with PM deficits when compared with non-BDs, with heavy BD not adding to the PM deficits observed. Possible reasons and implications are considered further at conference.