title: Global field power of auditory N1 correlates with impaired verbal-memory performance in human alcoholics.
abstract: First weeks after alcohol withdrawal, associated with profound changes in neural transmission, constitute the critical period for relapse prevention and pharmacological intervention in alcoholism. Here, 20 male alcoholics with 1-6 weeks of abstinence and 20 age-matched healthy controls were studied using auditory event-related potentials (ERP), measured with a 32-channel electroencephalogram, and neuropsychological tests of auditory-verbal memory. Global field power maximum of ERP during 80-150 ms period after presentation of unattended tones (binaural 700 Hz pure tones, inter-stimulus interval 2.5 s) was significantly (P<0.01) larger in the alcoholics than controls. This effect, reflecting augmented N1 generation, significantly correlated (r=0.5) with impaired memory performance in the alcoholics. The profound change in pre-attentive auditory processing, predicting impaired memory performance, might reflect impaired cerebral inhibitory transmission in alcoholics.
authors.affiliation: Cognitive Brain Research Unit, Department of Psychology, P.O. Box 13, FIN-00014 University of, Helsinki, Finland. jyrki.ahveninen@helsinki.fi
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ahveninen
authors.forename: I P
authors.initials: IP
authors.lastname: Jääskeläinen
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Pekkonen
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hallberg
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hietanen
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Näätänen
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Sillanaukee
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000503:physiopathology*; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005072:Evoked Potentials, Auditory / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D013375:Substance Withdrawal Syndrome / Q000503:physiopathology