The last model based on examining the relationship between brain structure and cognitive function suggests that alcoholism selectively disrupts those cognitive functions normally ascribed to the frontal lobes of the brain and their connections with other brain regions (called frontal lobe systems or frontal systems). Along with evidence of changes in frontal system brain structure, this model is based on findings that alcoholics show personality changes and cognitive impairments similar to those of patients with frontal system brain damage unrelated to alcoholism (for a review, see Oscar-Berman and Hutner 1993).
