Study of Mental Flexibility and Inhibition Processes as Cognitive Vulnerability Markers of Alcohol Dependence

Alcohol dependence involves both environmental and genetic vulnerability factors. Although it has a rather high degree of heritability (estimates range between 40% and 60%), vulnerability to alcohol dependence is broadly recognised as a complex polygenic phenotype. To clarify the risk factors involved in alcohol dependence, attempts have been made to identify endophenotypes in alcohol dependent patients and their relatives. Endophenotypes are defined as heritable traits associated with an increased risk for developing a disorder; they must be found in probands and their unaffected relatives at a higher rate than in the general population and must be associated with a specific genetic pattern. In the present study the investigators investigate the cognitive performance of alcohol dependent patients in comparison with a group of adult non-alcoholic offspring of alcohol-dependent patients and a group of participants without family history of alcohol dependence. The investigators also explore the relation between familial density of alcoholism and cognitive performance, particularly mental flexibility and inhibition. Genetic analysis will also be conducted to investigate the relationship between cognitive performance and genetic patterns (single nucleotide polymorphisms).