Assessment of learning potential in patients with cognitive disorders in individuals with alcohol-related cognitive disorders (including Korsakoff’s syndrome; KS) is highly relevant, as this may help to tailor interventions, guide treatment planning and help to optimize care. However, studies on assessing learning potential or learning ability using neuropsychological assessment in relation to changes in everyday activities during the course of treatment are scarce. In this study we examined whether verbal and visuospatial learning curves could be used as an index of learning ability in relation to everyday activities before and after a treatment program.

We examined the episodic learning ability of patients with KS (N=137), other alcohol-related cognitive impairments (ARCI; N=164), and uncomplicated alcohol use disorder (AUD; N=49). For this, we calculated the learning curves for the California Verbal Learning Test (CVLT) and the Location Learning Test - Revised (LLT-R) and examined their association with ratings of everyday activities by the patient and his/her professional caregiver using the Patient Competency Rating Scale (PCRS) before and after a 10-12 week treatment program following admission to the Korsakoff Centre.

For both verbal and visuospatial memory, the AUD group had a steeper learning curve than the ARCI patients, who in turn had a steeper learning curve than the KS group (p<.01). While the VLGT total score was related to the PCRS in all patient groups (Pearson r>.38, p<.01), this was only the case for the KS group for the LLT-R total score (r>-.29, p<.01). However, the learning curve estimates of both tests were neither related to the PCRS absolute scores (for patients and caregivers, before and after treatment) nor to the APCRS scores during the course of the treatment program.

Episodic learning ability, as measured with the learning curves of the CVLT and LLT-R, were unrelated to the patients everyday activity level as measures by the patients themselves or their professional caregiver. The results will be discussed in relation to other tools for assessing the learning potential of cognitively impaired patients, such as dynamic testing.