Much of the evidence reviewed here supports the idea that brain damage associated with long-term alcoholism can be extensive and that a wide range of variability in both the severity and types of cognitive impairments exists. The evidence reviewed focuses on the specific impairments in cognitive functioning related to chronic alcoholism. The hypotheses discussed attempt to specify behavioral changes in relation to brain structure and function. This strategy is intended to help link patients’ alcohol-related cognitive impairments to brain-damaged systems. If research can make such a connection, treatment strategies can be planned that draw on patients’ cognitive functions controlled by undamaged brain systems.
