Question-asking strategies in abstinent alcoholics: a study of learning potential.

The question-asking strategies of 90 Finnish alcoholics were measured on a Vygotskian version of the Twenty Questions procedure. There were two questions to analyse: (1) can the performance of alcoholics be improved by means of instruction in question-asking; and (2) how does the duration of abstinence affect test performance? The results indicated that instruction had a positive effect on the performance of alcoholics. The duration of abstinence had no general effect; its effect was evident only in one type of question, i.e., pseudoconstraint questions. There were marked interindividual differences in both the pre-test and the post-test. About 15% of the subjects showed no noticeable improvement in their post-test performance in spite of the instruction they received.