Previous results in our laboratory in adults using the same lexical decision paradigm as in the present study have demonstrated that, in contrast with controls, adult alcoholics fail to show reduction in N4 amplitude to the primed stimulus compared to the unprimed stimulus (Porjesz et al., 2002). Given these results, the current research was carried out to examine whether the nonalcoholic male offspring of alcoholics have similar impairment as alcoholics in semantic processing as measured through N4 in the same lexical decision paradigm, to determine whether these deficits antecede the development of alcoholism.
