The results reported here are merely a pilot study that helps to establish the feasibility of validly measuring the neurophysiological effects of a psychoactive substance in real world conditions from groups of people simultaneously. We do not wish to attach too much significance to the specific findings. Given the small number of participants, regional cortical effects of alcohol were not examined because the large number of variables produced by including data from each electrode site in the divergence analysis would have produced an unreliable equation that over fitted the data [37]. Rather, a global effect on the cerebral cortex was obtained by averaging the data from the individual electrodes. Application of principal components analysis [38], statistical pattern recognition methods [39], [40], global field power [41], [42], independent components analysis [43], etc. might be more effective. Future studies with larger subject populations might fruitfully explore differential effects on frontal, parietal and other cortical areas, for instance using high resolution EEG methods with many electrodes, spatial deblurring and MRI co-registration [44]. Amongst the many types of analysis available, the simplest form of
