Improving Working Memory to Fix Drinking Problem

Drinkers who want to change their lifestyles now have new hope. Research finds that by training the working memory, drinkers may improve their self-control.

The study, conducted by researchers in the Netherlands, was published online in the journal Psychological Science.

Working memory, which is a type of executive function, is the ability to maintain and manipulate goal-relevant information. Alcohol abuse weakens the executive function, which results in uncontrollable drinking guided by strong impulses.

In the study, problem drinkers were divided into two groups.

One group received a variety of verbal and spatial exercises designed to improve working memory. For example, they had to remember letters as they appeared and then recall them in the opposite order, and as they got better, the number of letters they had to remember increased. This is a task that requires good working memory.

Another group had to go through the same procedures as the treatment group, except that there were fewer items to memorize. Also, the number of items the participants had to memorize never increased.

As a result, the group with the harder exercises had significant improvement in their working memory, whereas the other group did not have that much of an increase. Likewise, participants from the former group reduced their alcohol intake by about 10 glasses a week, while the latter group did not show a change in their drinking behavior.

When the participants were tested again a month later, the results still remained both in terms of working memory and the reduction in alcohol intake.

Read the research paper here.