There are a number of limitations to this study. Our results may not easily generalize to clinical populations of interest because we examined an epidemiological sample. For instance, perhaps moderation is present in adolescents with greater amounts of AAU, such as those found in chemical dependency treatment programs. On one hand, we observed a large range of AAU in our study, including both alcohol-naïve adolescents as well as those who reported consuming many drinks in a single day and a history of multiple intoxications. Indeed, 57.6% of the males and 49.2% of the females in our sample reported drinking to intoxication and many have been intoxicated more than once. Additionally, 17.3% of our adolescents met criteria for a DSM-IV AUD diagnosis. On the other hand, alcohol is a recognized neurotoxin. Alcohol in sufficient quantities would likely permanently reduce P300 amplitude. The results of this study, however, suggest that this threshold is not reached frequently enough to challenge the validity of P300 amplitude as an endophenotype when applied to community populations. Similarly, the results of this study may not be easily
