Hypothesis testing in younger and older alcoholics.

Abstract

The role of age and duration of alcoholism on performance of the Levine Hypothesis Testing task was investigated. Subjects were 40 men alcoholics in 4 groups of 10 each (mean group ages 41, 42, 53 and 53) and 20 nonalcoholic men controls in 2 groups of 10 (mean ages 43 and 53). Alcoholics were divided into 4 groups on the basis of age (30-49 vs. 50-60) and duration of alcoholism (8 or fewer or more than 8 yr of heavy drinking). Two versions of the Levine task were administered: 1 required memory, the other did not. Controls completed the task in less time than the short- or long-term alcoholics (respective mean times 56, 76 and 68 min). As measured by Levine''s computational procedures, the alcoholics, particularly the older group, performed more poorly than controls on both versions of the test. On over-all performance the controls scored significantly better than the alcoholics, and the younger controls and alcoholics did significantly better than their older counterparts. No significant differences in task performance could be related to duration of alcoholism.