Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2009, 6 2.3. Drinking Severity, EBCC Learning, and Neuropsychological Function 2020 Examination of measures of drinking severity and their relation to associative learning and cognitive function was performed. Post-hoc analyses of drinking severity as assessed by the DIS revealed a difference on the mean CR acquisition during reversal learning (DIS 1 vs 2: t = 2.12; p = 0.043), indicating that individuals meeting criteria for alcohol dependence performed worse than those meeting criteria for abuse. Specifically, individuals meeting criteria for alcohol dependence were unable to acquire CRs differentially during the more complex reversal learning phase (Mean Reversal Difference Score = 4.20, SD = 3.71), whereas individuals meeting criteria for alcohol abuse were able to acquire CRs differentially during reversal (Mean Reversal Score = 21.67, SD = 9.19). There were no significant differences in learning performance among those that did not meet criteria for abuse or dependence on the DIS (DIS = 0) and those that did meet criteria for abuse or dependence. Correlational analyses of neuropsychological tests and measures of drinking severity are reported in Table 4. Several tests of memory function were found to significantly correlate with measures of drinking severity (see Table 4). These included subtests of the Wechsler Memory Scale, Third Edition assessing verbal and visual immediate and delayed memory as well as Warrington recognition memory for faces. Several tests of executive function were also found to significantly correlate with measures of drinking severity including total perseverations during the verbal fluency task and performance on the Stroop task. Eta-squared is also provided in Table 4. The total lifetime volume of alcohol consumed, as measured by the Lifetime Drinking Questionnaire, explains approximately 35 percent of the variance in performance on the Stroop Interference Trial, a task of inhibition. Table 4. Correlational analyses revealed significant (p ≤ 0.01) correlations between neuropsychological tests and alcohol consumption. Neuropsychological Test Drinking Measure Significance Memory / Medial Temporal WMS-III Verbal Paired Associate II Raw Score Visual Reproduction I Raw Score Visual Reproduction II Raw Score Visual Reproduction II Scaled Score Warrington Facial Recognition LDH Total Volume Average Drinks/Day LDH Total Weight Corrected LDH Total Volume Average Drinks/Day LDH Total Weight Corrected LDH Total Volume Average Drinks/Day Maximum Drinks/Day Average Drinks/Day LDH Total Weight Corrected LDH Total Volume Average Drinks/Day Maximum Drinks/Day Pearson Correlation -0.455 -0.441 -0.473 -0.475 -0.493 -0.486 -0.485 -0.584 -0.467 -0.494 -0.462 -0.482 -0.543 -0.484 R2 0.207 0.195 0.224 0.226 0.243 0.236 0.235 0.341 0.218 0.244 0.214 0.232 0.295 0.234 0.009 0.011 0.008 0.008 0.006 0.007 0.007 0.001 0.009 0.006 0.010 0.007 0.002 0.007