Fluidity theory and neuropsychological impairment in alcoholism.

In order to determine whether the "classic" alcoholic WAIS pattern is the result of right hemisphere damage or the loss of fluid intelligence abilities, right-hemisphere damaged, left-hemisphere damaged, alcoholic, and control groups of 40 subjects each were matched on the variables of age and education. They were administered the WAIS-Revised (WAIS-R) and four sensory and motor measures that were sensitive to lateralized damage but not to fluidity. The alcoholic group showed the "classic" pattern of a lower performance than verbal WAIS IQ. Although the left hand scores on the sensory and motor tests were significantly more impaired than the right hand scores for the right-hemisphere damaged group they were not for the alcoholic group. These results did not support the right hemisphere theory. Rather, as indicated by further analysis, the pattern is most adequately explained by the fluidity theory.