Abstract
Background: P3a amplitude differences between alcoholic and control groups have not
been well defined. Because event-related potential (ERP) differences between these
groups appear to be influenced by task difficulty, the present study employed a new
auditory ERP paradigm, in which target/standard tone discriminability was difficult,
with infrequent nontarget stimuli used to elicit the P3a.
Methods: A total of n = 27 male alcoholics and n = 25 male controls were assessed using a three-tone discrimination paradigm, in which
the discriminability between the target and standard was difficult, with easily discriminable
infrequent nontarget tones also presented. A P3a component with a centro-frontal maximum
to the rare nontargets and a P3b with a parietal maximum amplitude to the target stimulus
were obtained. Current Source Density (CSD) maps were derived from the potential data
and employed to assay topographical differences between subject groups.
Results: Alcoholics produced smaller P3a amplitudes than control subjects to the rare
nontargets with no peak latency differences observed. The most prominent current sources
are apparent more anteriorly for the nontarget compared to the target stimulus in
both groups. There were more sources and sinks in the alcoholics than in the control
subjects for P3a. A bootstrap analysis method showed that P3a CSD maps evinced distinct
topographic distributions between alcoholics and control subjects in all brain regions.
Conclusions: The lower P3a amplitude and weaker sources in alcoholics coupled with
less topographic specificity in their CSD maps, suggests disorganized inefficient
brain functioning. This global electrophysiological pattern suggests cortical disinhibition
perhaps reflecting underlying CNS hyperexcitability in alcoholics.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Accepted:
December 31,
1999
Received in revised form:
December 27,
1999
Received:
July 19,
1999
Identification
Copyright
© 2000 Society of Biological Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
