Retention of orienting reaction habituation in chronic alcoholics.

A polygraphic study on resistance to habituation of the somatic (EMG), autonomic (finger plethysmogram, galvanic skin reaction, respiration) and EEG (acoustic evoked potential and EEG-blocking reaction) components of the orienting reaction elicited by a repetitive auditory stimulus during successive (weekly) session was performed in 67 chronic alcoholics and in 70 matched normal subjects (control group). The study showed significant retention disturbances of orienting reaction habituation (i.e. of learning), the "saving" of stimulations achieved from one session to the other to obtain the habituation criterion, being lesser in alcoholics than in control normal subjects. The severity of habituation retention disturbances depended on the patients' age, type of alcoholism, alcohol consumption intensity and chronicity, as well as the type of resting EEG.