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Wilfred G. van Gorp, PhD; Jeffrey N. Wilkins, MD; Charles H. Hinkin, PhD; Lawrence H. Moore, PhD; James Hull, PhD; Michael David Horner, PhD; David Plotkin, MA

Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1999;56:85-89.

Background  We determined the nature and recovery of procedural and declarative memory functioning in a cocaine-abusing cohort in the 45-day period following use.

Methods  Thirty-seven cocaine abusers and 27 control subjects were administered the following memory and mood measures: California Verbal Learning Test, recall of the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure 1 Test, Pursuit Rotor Task, and Profile of Mood States at 4 visits (within 72 hours of admission and at 10, 21, and 45 days following abstinence).

Results  Analysis of performance on the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure 1 Test revealed that both groups improved in their recall over repeated administrations, though the control group recalled significantly more of the information than cocaine subjects during the 45-day interval. Results for the California Verbal Learning Test indicated improved learning for both subject groups over time, but no group x time interaction. On the Pursuit Rotor Task, cocaine abusers improved their performance at a faster rate than controls at visit 1. At day 45 (visit 4), cocaine abusers again showed improvement on the Pursuit Rotor Task, whereas controls demonstrated a relative plateau in rate of learning.

Conclusions  This study documented a lasting detrimental effect on a sensitive nonverbal declarative memory task in cocaine-dependent subjects following abstinence of 45 days. In contrast, abstinence from cocaine during this 45-day period was associated with sustained improvement on a motor learning test in the cocaine abusers relative to controls.

From the Department of Psychiatry, Cornell University Medical College, New York, NY (Drs van Gorp and Hull); VA Medical Center West Los Angeles, Los Angeles, Calif (Drs Wilkins and Hinkin); Departments of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences (Drs Wilkins and Hinkin) and Psychology (Mr Plotkin), UCLA School of Medicine, Los Angeles; Department of Neurology, Oregon Health Sciences University (Dr Moore); and Medical University of South Carolina and Ralph H. Johnson Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Charleston (Dr Horner).

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