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No Electrocortical Evidence of Automatic Mismatch Dysfunction in Children of Alcoholics.
- Source :
- Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research; 1997, Vol. 21 Issue 4, p569-575, 7p
- Publication Year :
- 1997
-
Abstract
- The mismatch negativity (MMN) event-related potential (ERP) component is an automatic, attention-independent brain response to auditory stimulus change, which has been reported to be smaller in alcoholics relative to nonalcoholic controls. To determine whether MMN decrements might be a trait marker of alcoholism that is also present in nonalcoholic individuals at high risk for developing alcoholism, we investigated MMN in 9-to 18-year-old children of alcoholics ( n= 20) and control children ( n= 20) in three different stimulus conditions using a passive auditory oddball paradigm. There were no statistically significant between-group differences observed in amplitude, scalp topography, and peak latency of MMN. These findings, if replicated, suggest that reported MMN decrements in alcoholics most likely represent a state marker, and not a trait marker, of alcoholism. Also, inasmuch as another ERP component, the P300, is attention-dependent and reported to be smaller in children of alcoholics, the present results implicate that deviations in attentive, but not in automatic, information processing are associated with alcoholism vulnerability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Details
- Language :
- English
- Volume :
- 21
- Issue :
- 4
- Database :
- Complementary Index
- Journal :
- Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 91182804
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1530-0277.1997.tb03804.x