Abstract
The independent use of excessive amounts of alcohol or persistent cigarette smoking have been found to have a deleterious impact upon Prospective Memory (PM: remembering future intentions and activities), although to date, the effect of their concurrent use upon PM is yet to be explored. The present study investigated the impact of the concurrent use of drinking excessive amounts of alcohol and smoking cigarettes (a “Polydrug” group) in comparison to the combined effect of the single use of these substances upon PM. The study adopted a single factorial independent groups design. The Cambridge Prospective Memory Test (CAMPROMPT) is a test of both time-based and event-based PM and was used here to measure PM. The CAMPROMPT was administered to 125 adults; an excessive alcohol user group (n = 40), a group of smokers who drink very little alcohol (n = 20), a combined user group (the “Polydrug” group) who drink excessively and smoke cigarettes (n = 40) and a non-drinker/low alcohol consumption control group (n = 25). The main findings revealed that the Polydrug users recalled significantly fewer time-based PM tasks than both excessive alcohol users p < 0.001 and smokers p = 0.013. Polydrug users (mean = 11.47) also remembered significantly fewer event-based PM tasks than excessive alcohol users p < 0.001 and smokers p = 0.013. With regards to the main aim of the study, the polydrug users exhibited significantly greater impaired time-based PM than the combined effect of single excessive alcohol users and cigarette smokers p = 0.033. However, no difference was observed between polydrug users and the combined effect of single excessive alcohol users and cigarette smokers in event-based PM p = 0.757. These results provide evidence that concurrent (polydrug) use of these two substances has a synergistic effect in terms of deficits upon time-based PM. The observation that combined excessive drinking and cigarette smoking leads to a greater impairment in time-based PM may be of paramount importance, given the key role PM plays in everyday independent living.
Highlights
Tobacco and alcohol are two of the most widely used drugs in the Western world and are responsible for a large proportion of harm [1]
Studies that have examined the effects of alcohol on cognitive performance and have shown that drinking excessively impairs Working Memory (WM), which is responsible for the manipulation and maintenance of information across a short period of time; for example, remembering someone’s phone number while driving a car and concentrating on the road ahead [5, 6] as well as Executive Function (EF), which is an umbrella term used to describe a set of resources that are responsible for the management of cognitive functions, including WM and attention; for example, being able to pay attention to a task despite having distractions all around you [7, 8]
In order to identify that the Polydrug user group was appropriately matched to the respective single drug user groups, a series of one-way ANOVAs were applied to the data comparing appropriate groups on alcohol use and smoking
Summary
Tobacco and alcohol are two of the most widely used drugs in the Western world and are responsible for a large proportion of harm [1] These two drugs are often used concurrently [2, 3]; yet, there remains a paucity of research in relation to their combined effects. Previous research suggests that chronic use of large amounts of alcohol and cigarette smoking are independently associated with a variety of cognitive impairments. Excessive alcohol use has been associated with poorer performance in Prospective Memory (PM), which refers to the cognitive ability to carry out planned intentions/actions at a future point in time [9,10,11]. PM is seen as an important part of everyday remembering, since it is responsible for planning and remembering future activities, such as remembering to meet with friends at a pre-specified time and location, remembering to take an important medication on time, or remembering to turn up for a meeting; in this respect, it is seen as essential for independent living [21]
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