Alcohol-Related Cognitive Impairments: An Overview of How Alcoholism May Affect the Workings of the Brain.

People with alcoholism express cognitive deficits of varying type and severity. Theoretical models of impaired cognition are intended to explain the deficit patterns by relating them to the brain structures or brain processes that may be damaged. Although no model has thus far succeeded in defining adequately all the impairments alcoholics experience, process-oriented models are proving useful as tools for describing alcohol-related cognitive deficits.