This paper is only available as a PDF. To read, Please Download here.
Numerous studies have evaluated event-related potentials (ERPs) as biological indicators
of the liability for alcoholism. This study extends that approach by investigating
ERPs in boys at risk for other substance use disorders. Prepubertal (10–12 years)
sons of fathers diagnosed with psychoactive substance dependence (n = 28) were compared to matched sons of nonaffected fathers (n = 26) on an auditory ERP oddball task. Multivariate analyses of variance applied
to peak amplitude and latency measures indicated small to moderate between-groups
differences at midline or parietal sites: N2 and P3 amplitude; P2, N2, P3, and Nc
latency. This replicated P3 amplitude findings in alcoholism-risk studies, though
the effect size was moderate. Analysis of event-related alpha power indicated significantly
longer latency of alpha synchronization and oscillations of desynchronization in boys
at risk. The alpha power findings were statistically the more robust of the measures
applied. The role of neurocognitive factors in determining liability for substance
use disorders is discussed.
To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
Purchase one-time access:
Academic & Personal: 24 hour online accessCorporate R&D Professionals: 24 hour online accessOne-time access price info
- For academic or personal research use, select 'Academic and Personal'
- For corporate R&D use, select 'Corporate R&D Professionals'
Subscribe:
Subscribe to Biological PsychiatryAlready a print subscriber? Claim online access
Already an online subscriber? Sign in
Register: Create an account
Institutional Access: Sign in to ScienceDirect
References
- 3rd ed rev. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. American Psychiatric Press, 1987
- EEG—Brain Dynamics: Relation Between EEG and Brain Evoked Potentials.Elsevier/North Holland Biomedical Press, Washington DC1980
- Event-related brain potentials in boys at risk for alcoholism.Science. 1984; 225: 1493-1495
- P3 in young boys as a predictor of adolescent substance use.Alcohol. 1993; 10: 69-76
- Family-genetic and psychosocial risk factors in DSM-III attention deficit disorder.J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 1990; 29: 526-533
- Event-related desynchronization: the effects of energetic and computational demands.Electroencephalogr Clin Neurophysiol. 1992; 82: 302-309
Brigham J, Herning RI, Moss HB, Murrelle LB, Tarter RE: Event-related potentials and event-related alpha in preadolescent boys at risk for alcohol and substance abuse. (Submitted.)
- Event-related potential differentiation of prepubertal sons of alcoholics and abusers of others substances.Psychophysiology. 1993; 30: S19
- Brain evoked response in short-term memory in hyperactive children: Methylphenidate dose-response relations.Psychophysiology. 1983; 20: 434
- Hyperactive children have grown up.Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1985; 42: 1026-1028
- EEG characteristics in males at risk for alcoholism.Alcoholism: Clin Exp Res. 1991; 15: 858-861
- Digital filtering: background and tutorial for psychophysiologists.Psychophysiology. 1992; 29: 350-367
- Neurophysiological correlates of cognitive development: Changes in long-latency event-related potentials from childhood to adulthood.Electroencephalogr Clin Neurophysiol. 1978; 45: 468-482
- (EEG Suppl 40)Development of the late components of auditory brain potentials from early childhood to adulthood.in: Johnson R Rohrbaugh JW Parasuraman R Current Trends in Event-Related Potential Research. Elsevier Science Biomedical, Amsterdam1987
- Socioeconomic status and psychiatric disorders: The causation-selection issue.Science. 1992; 255: 946-952
- Multivariate analysis of event-related potential data: A tutorial review.in: Otto DA Multidisciplinary Perspectives in Event-Related Brain Potential Research. EPA Publication No. 600/9-77-043. US Environmental Protection Agency, Amsterdam1978: 555-557
- Age-related differences in brain electrical activity of healthy subjects.Ann Neurol. 1984; 16: 430-438
- Evaluation of EEG alpha activity in sons of alcoholics.Neuropsychopharmacology. 1991; 4: 199-205
- Event-related potentials are different in individuals at high and low risk for developing alcoholism.in: Proc Natl Acad Sci. 79. 1982: 7900-7903
- Cognitive brain potential components in adolescents.Psychophysiology. 1984; 21: 83-96
- (EEG Suppl 40)Cross-sectional age-related changes in the cognitive components.in: Johnson R Rohrbaugh JW Parasuraman R Current Trends in Event-Related Potential Research. Elsevier Science Biomedical, Washington DC1987
- Hyperactive boys almost grown up. I. Psychiatric status.Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1985; 42: 937-947
- Visual ERP predicts clinical response to methylphenidate.Psychophysiology. 1984; 21: 114-121
- Auditory event-related potentials in adolescents at risk for drug abuse.Biol Psychiatry. 1989; 25: 598-609
- Event-related potential characteristics in children of alcoholics from high density families.Alcoholism. 1990; 14: 6-16
- (Unpublished manuscript)Four Factor Index of Social Status.1990
- P300 latency and memory span development.Dev Psychology. 1985; 21: 283-289
- On the relationship between background EEG and the P300 event-related potential.Biol Psychology. 1994; 37: 207-218
- The effect of the phase of prestimulus alpha activity on the averaged visual evoked response.Electroencephalogr Clin Neurophysiol. 1991; 80: 241-250
- The ten-twenty electrode system of the International Federation.Electroencephalogr Clin Neurophysiol. 1958; 10: 371-375
- Behavioral and EEG responses to alcohol in nonalcoholic men with a family history of alcoholism.Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry. 1988; 12: 873-885
- Cognitive event-related potentials in attention deficit disorder.J Learning Disabilities. 1991; 24: 130-140
- Methylphenidate reduces abnormalities of stimulus classification in adolescents with attention deficit disorder.J Abnorm Psychology. 1992; 101: 130-138
- Effects of methylphenidate on processing negatives in patients with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.Psychophysiology. 1990; 27: 328-337
- Sensitivity of psychiatric diagnosis based on the best estimate procedure.Am J Psychiatry. 1992; 149: 1225-1233
- Reading senseless sentences: brain potentials reflect semantic incongruity.Science. 1980; 207: 203-205
- Brain potentials during reading reflect word expectancy and semantic association.Nature. 1984; 307: 161-163
- P300 and probability in children.J Exp Child Psychology. 1989; 48: 792-795
- Best estimate of lifetime psychiatric diagnosis: A methodological study.Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1982; 39: 879-883
- Ethanol-induced alterations in EEG alpha activity and apparent source of the auditory P300 evoked response potential.Alcohol. 1990; 7: 471-477
- Comorbidity for alcoholism and depression.Psychiatr Clin North Am. 1990; 13: 613-632
- Interhemispheric electroencephalographic coherence as a biological marker in alcoholism.Acta Psychiatr Scand. 1993; 87: 213-217
- Heightened motor activity level in male offspring of substance abusing fathers.Biol Psychiatry. 1992; 32: 1135-1147
- Graphical display and statistical evaluation of event-related desynchronization (ERD).Electroencephalogr Clin Neurophysiol. 1977; 43: 757-760
- Event-related synchronization (ERS): An electrophysiological correlate of cortical areas at rest.Electroencephalogr Clin Neurophysiol. 1992; 83: 62-69
- Event-related cortical desynchronization detected by power measurements of scalp EEG.Electroencephalogr Clin Neurophysiol. 1977; 42: 817-826
- Patterns of cortical activation during planning of voluntary movement.Electroencephalogr Clin Neurophysiol. 1989; 72: 250-258
- Normal variation of P300 in children: age, memory span, and head size.Int J Psychophysiology. 1990; 9: 237-248
Polich J, Luckritz JY: Electrophysiological assessment of young, middle-age, and elderly adults. In Mergener M, Brocklehurst J, Kanowski S (eds), Aging, Health, and Healing. New York: Springer, (in press).
- Meta-analysis of P300 amplitude from males at risk for alcoholism.Psych Bull. 1994; 115: 55-73
- EEG identification of subgroups of men at risk for alcoholism?.Psychiatry Res. 1988; 26: 101-114
- The EEG after alcohol administration in men at risk for alcoholism.Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1983; 40: 857-861
- Effect of alcohol on genetically determined variants of the normal electroencephalogram.Psychiatry Res. 1980; 2: 85-98
- Relationships between N1, P300, and contingent negative variation recorded at age 15 and criminal behavior at age 24.Psychophysiology. 1990; 27: 567-574
- An event-related potential study of controlled and automatic process in 6–8-year-old boys with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.Electroencephalogr Clin Neurophysiol. 1992; 82: 330-340
- Ontogeny of selective attention effects on event-related potentials in attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and normal boys.Biol Psychiatry. 1990; 28: 879-903
- Event-related desynchronization and P300.Psychophysiology. 1987; 24: 272-277
- Drinking variables, affective measures, and neuropsychological performance: Familial alcoholism and gender correlates.Alcohol. 1989; 6: 77-85
- Synchronization of cortical activity and its putative role in information processing and learning.Annu Rev Physiol. 1993; 55: 349-374
- Structured clinical interview for DSM-III-R (SCID).New York State Psychiatric Institute, Amsterdam1983
- Drinking your troubles away II: An attention-allocation model of alcohol's effect on psychological stress.J Abnorm Psychology. 1988; 97: 196-205
- Ontogeny of substance abuse: perspectives and findings.in: Glantz MD Pickens RW Vulnerability to Drug Abuse. American Psychological Association, New York1992: 149-177
- Background EEG reactivity in auditory event-related potentials.Electroencephalogr Clin Neurophysiol. 1992; 83: 44-51
- The functional significance of event-related desynchronization of alpha rhythm in attentional and activating tasks.Electroencephalogr Clin Neurophysiol. 1984; 58: 519-524
- The prevalence of attention deficit disorder, residual type, or minimal brain dysfunction in a population of male alcoholic patients.Am J Psychiatry. 1983; 140: 95-98
Article info
Publication history
Received in revised form:
August 8,
1994
Received:
October 8,
1993
Footnotes
This work was conducted at the Center for Education and Drug Abuse Research (a consortium of the University of Pittsburgh and St. Francis Medical Center); it was supported by a grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (P50-DA 05605) and by a postdoctoral training grant from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (AA 07453-12).
Identification
Copyright
© 1995 Society of Biological Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc.
