Increased beta power has also been described in the EEG of relatives of alcoholics (Gabrielli et al., 1982; Pollock et al., 1995; Finn and Justus, 1999; Rangaswamy et al., 2004b). However, some studies examining acute effects of alcohol on HR report an absence of pre-ethanol baseline differences in resting EEG between LR and HR subjects (Pollock et al., 1983; Kaplan et al., 1988; Cohen et al., 1991). A positive family history of alcoholism was related to increased beta power in HR (Gabrielli et al., 1982; Pollock et al., 1995; Finn and Justus, 1999), and when present along with a diagnosis of antisocial personality (ASP), it was associated with increased frontal beta power (Bauer and Hesselbrock, 1993). In the COGA study, increased beta power on the resting EEG was demonstrated in a large sample of offspring of alcoholics (Rangaswamy et al., 2004b). Taken together, as the increase in beta power in alcoholics was not related to length of abstinence (Rangaswamy et al., 2002) and was also present in individuals at risk (Rangaswamy et al., 2004b), this suggests that it may not be an effect of alcohol use, but perhaps antecede the development of AUDs.
