Chronic alcoholism has been linked to a wide range of structural and functional abnormalities in frontal lobes (for review, see Moselhy et al., 2001). Several studies have reported neuropsychological and frontal executive function deficits in alcohol dependent individuals (Acker, 1985; Beatty et al., 1996; Jones and Parsons, 1972; Jones, 1971; Nixon and Bowlby, 1996; Ratti et al., 2002; Sullivan et al., 2002; Sullivan et al., 1993; Tarter, 1973; Wilkinson and Poulos, 1987). Neuroimaging studies have reported that the executive function deficits of alcohol dependent individuals may be associated with decreased frontal glucose metabolism (Adams et al., 1993; Gansler et al., 2000; Wang et al., 1993) and regional cerebral blood flow in frontal lobes of alcoholics (Gansler et al., 2000; Nicolas et al., 1993; O'Carroll et al., 1991). Furthermore, postmortem and neuroradiological studies have revealed cortical atrophy and reduction in grey matter and white matter in the frontal lobes of alcoholics (Harper et al., 1985; Pfefferbaum et al., 1997).
