Regarding the question of cognitive recovery with abstinence in alcoholism, one critical limitation stems from the use of cross-sectional studies to address longitudinal questions. Cross-sectional studies only allow for inferences about cognitive recovery, whereas longitudinal studies provide direct information about cognitive recovery over time. Tracking alcoholism’s dynamic course of sobriety and relapse is essential in revealing the potential and limits for recovery of cognitive abilities over time. Longitudinal studies offer the possibility to control for practice, aging, and sex effects when a matched control group is retested at comparable intervals and yield valuable comparisons between abstainers and relapsers. To our knowledge, only cross-sectional studies have been conducted on emotional and social cognition in alcoholic patients.
