RECENT PRESENTATIONS

Ilan, A.B., Barber, J., Smith, M.E., & Gevins, A. (2000). The Persistent Electrophysiological Effects of Social Drinking. Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Neuroscience Society. April, San Francisco.

ABSTRACT

The effects of a single, large dose of alcohol have been studied extensively, but how alcohol affects the brain under more realistic drinking situations has received less attention. The electrophysiological effects of cumulative doses of alcohol were investigated as subjects were assessed before and after drinking one, two, and three glasses of red wine, each glass one-hour apart. In a double-blind procedure, subjects drank either regular alcoholic or placebo non-alcoholic red wine in two separate sessions. Forty channels of EEG were recorded under resting conditions and in two load levels of an n-back working memory task. Blood/breath alcohol concentration (BAC) peaked after the last glass of alcoholic wine at .10 g/210 liters of breath, and decreased linearly after drinking ceased. Numerous EEG and EP effects of cumulative alcohol consumption were observed. EEG power in the slow alpha, theta, and beta frequency bands increased with alcohol ingestion. The latency of the N100 and P300 potentials increased with alcohol, especially in the difficult task conditions. Many of these effects had not diminished three hours after subjects had stopped drinking, well after BAC decreased below the legal driving limit. The results suggest that social alcohol consumption has cumulative effects on the brain that persist for hours after subjective intoxication has diminished. (Supported by the National Institutes of Mental Health and National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.)