ERPs are sensitive to the neural effects of alcohol intake (Porjesz & Begleiter, 1996). Several studies have reported decreases in ERP component (N1, MMN, P300) amplitudes with ethanol doses ranging from 0.50 g/kg to 0.85 g/kg (Campbell & Lowick, 1987; Grillon, Sinha, & O'Malley, 1995; Jääskeläinen et al., 1995, 1998; Rohrbaugh et al., 1987; Sommer, Leuthold, & Hermanutz, 1993). The P300 component reflects attention and memory operations engaged when stimulus change occurs (Polich, 2007). P300 variation with ethanol ingestion has been interpreted as demonstrating adverse effects on perceptual processing resources, a measure of central nervous system disinhibition, or frontal executive dysfunction (Begleiter & Porjesz, 1999; George, Potts, Kothman, Martin, & Mukundan, 2004; Kim, Kim, & Kwon, 2001).
