Assessment of prepubertal and postpubertal boys and girls at risk for developing alcoholism with P300 from a visual discrimination task

Prepubertal children who are at high-risk for the development of alcoholism were compared with those who are at low-risk in a visual event-related paradigm. P300 amplitude was reduced in the high-risk boys. The groups did not differ in reaction time data although latency was longer for the hard condition than to the easy one. Moreover, performance accuracy did not differ among the groups. Thus, P300 amplitude is an electrophysiologic marker for high alcoholic risk among prepubertal boys.