Neuropsychological indications of dysfunctional memory acquisition and processing have been investigated using neuroimaging techniques. In an fMRI study, Akine et al. (2007) employed a long-term false-recognition memory paradigm comparing alcoholics to controls on task performance and brain activation. Although the researchers did not find alcoholics to be impaired on the task, they did find differing patterns of brain activity between the groups. Alcoholics exhibited diminished responses in several small and isolated locations of the brain (right prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate, right pulvinar, and right ventral striatum). Because the alcoholics in this study were relatively young (mean age in their 30s) and had been abstinent for an average of more than three years, the authors suggested that the abnormal fMRI results, in the absence of observed behavioral deficits, might indicate latent lesions or subclinical pathology.
