Event-related potentials elicited by a visual continuous performance task in children of alcoholics.
Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded from a group of young children of alcoholics (HR; n = 17, 7 females) with a high-density family-history of alcoholism and from a control group (CN; n = 19, 10 females), ages 7-15 years old, during a visual continuous performance task. The P3 peak amplitude and the mean amplitude at five latency windows (300-800 ms) were measured at frontal (F3-Fz-F4), central (C3-Cz-C4) and parietal (P3-Pz-P4) electrodes. Data were analyzed using a mixed-model risk-group by stimulus-type (matching vs. nonmatching) by Electrode ANCOVA, with age as a covariate, for each of the scalp regions. The risk-group by stimulus-type interactions were significant at the parietal region for the P3 peak amplitude and for the 300-400 ms mean amplitude, although there were no risk-group main differences. The HR group manifested smaller differences between the amplitude of the matching and nonmatching condition than the CN group. These results suggest a deficient electrophysiological differentiation between relevant and irrelevant information and are discussed in relation to previous reports and to the characteristics of the sample.
Rodríguez Holguín
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Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychobiology, University of Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, Spain. holguin@usc.es
Corral
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Cadaveira
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D000293:Adolescent; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000235:genetics* / Q000503:physiopathology; D002648:Child; D005074:Evoked Potentials, Visual / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D005190:Family; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis