band. More recently, Cardenas et al. [4] have reported increased alpha and theta coherence, particularly at central, parietal, and occipital electrodes in long term abstinent alcohol dependent individuals. In the Collaborative Study on the Genetics of Alcoholism (COGA) parietal-occipital theta coherence was found to be associated with key alcohol candidate genes, GABRA2 and CHRM2 [30]. EEG coherence is known to change dynamically across the lifespan, with some studies of the general population showing increases in childhood [31], adolescence and early adulthood [32] and decreases in later adulthood [33]. Thus, coherence has been particularly useful in the study of normal brain development and neuropsychiatric disorders such as AUD [34]. Furthermore, gender differences have been observed for resting EEG coherence in both adults and children, typically with females displaying higher coherence levels across frequencies [35,36], underscoring the complexity of neural development and the importance of examining these effects in both males and females.
