Alcoholic Korsakoff’s syndrome is characterized most notably by cognitive impairments in memory (i.e., anterograde amnesia—an inability to remember new information for more than a few seconds) as well as deficits in abstraction and problem-solving (Jacobson et al. 1990). Despite these cognitive-functioning impairments, overall intelligence, as measured by IQ tests, usually remains intact. This is because most memories formed before the onset of prolonged heavy drinking remain preserved, whereas memories recently acquired are not preserved. Thus, general intelligence is spared, because the types of information and the abilities tapped by IQ tests often have not been acquired recently and can be retrieved from memory.3
